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ABSTRACT 



HISTORY OF HUDSON, MASS. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT 



CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF 
OUR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE. 



JULY 4, 1870. 



BY CHARLES HUDSON 



WITH THE ACTION OF THE TOWN, AND THE PROCEEDLNGS AT 
THE CELEBRATION. 



PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF THE TOWN. 

1877. 



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PROCLAMATION 



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By the President of the United States. A Proclamation. 

W/iereas, A Joint Resolution of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States was duly approved on the thirteenth 
day of March last, which Resolution is as follows : 

"Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America, in Congress assembled, that it be and is 
hereby recommended by the Senate and the House of Representatives, 
to the People of the several States, that they assemble in their several 
counties or towns, on the approaching Centennial Anniversary of our 
National Independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such 
day an Historical Sketch of said county or town, from its formation ; 
and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in print or manuscript, 
in the Clerk's office of said county, and an additional copy in print 
or manuscript be filed in the office of the Librarian of Congress, to 
the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the pro- 
gress of our institutions during the first Centennial of their existence : " 

And Whereas, It is deemed proper that such recommendation be 
brought to the notice and knowledge of the People of the United 
States, Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United 
States, do hereby declare and make known the same, in the hope that 
the object of such Resolution may meet the approval of the People 
of the United States, and that proper steps may be taken to carry 
the same into execution. 

Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the twenty-fifth 
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-six, and of the independence of the United States the 
one hundredth. 

U. S. GRANT. 
By the President. 
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State. • 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION BY THE TOWN 
OE HUDSON. 



At the instance of citizens interested in the due observance 
of the Centennial Anniversary of our National Independence, 
the following article was inserted in the annual town meeting 
warran1>for 1876, to wit: * 

" To see if the town will take any action respecting the cele- 
bration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Nation's Indepen- 
dence, or do or act anything towards preserving the history of 
the first years of the existence of. the town as a separate 
municipality." 

Under this article the following persons, viz : Francis Brig- 
ham, Frank H. Chamberlain, David B. Goodale, James T. 
JosLiN, Edmund M. Stowe, James L. Harriman, Russell B'. 
Lewis, Wm, F. Trowbridge, George Houghton, Francis. D. 
Brigham, Charles H. Robinson, and Benjamin Dearborn, 
were chosen a committee, and were " instructed to take into 
consideration the matter of holding a public meeting of the 
citizens of the town on the Fourth of July next, for the 
purpose of celebrating the Centennial Anniversary of the 
Nation's Independence by an Historical Address, 6r otherwise, 
whereby the history of the first decade of the town may be 
preserved, and, if considered necessary, request the Selectmen 
to call a meeting of the town for the consideration of any 
report which said committee may submit for its consideration." 

This committee organized by the choice of Francis Brig- 
ham, Chairman, and Frank H. Chamberlain, Secretary. 
After mature deliberation it was decided to hold a public meet- 
ing at the Town Hall, on the forenoon of the fourth day of 
July, and that the Hon. Charles Hudson of Lexington, be 



invited to deliver an Historical Address on that occasion ; and 
that such other musical and literary exercises be supplied as 
the committee on invitations and literary exercises might 
determine. ^ 

The following members were chosen that committee: — 
James T. Joslin, James L. Harriman, Frank H. Chamber- 
lain. 

The correspondence with the Hon. Charles Hudson, 
together with the order of exercises in the hall, and the report 
of the proceedings herewith printed, sufficiently attest the 
labors of this committee. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

Hudson, June 3, 1876. 
Hon. Charles Hudson, 

Dear -5?r.- — Agreeably to the recent Proclamation "of the 
President of the United States, requesting the towns and cities to 
celebrate the approaching Centennial Anniversary of the Nation's 
Independence, the citizens of the town of Hudson contemplate such 
observance of the day, thereby to perpetuate, by appropriate exercises, 
such local incidents and events as may be gathered into an Historical 
Address for the benefit of coming generations. 

The committee chosen to make the necessary arrangements, and 
especially to select some suitable person to prepare such an Address, 
unanimously agree that no person could be found better adapted, 
both on account of early associations, and subsequent education and 
training, than yourself, to perform this important work. Should 
your health, in your advanced age, permit of your engaging in this 
task, we trust that you will consent 'to accept this cordial invitation 
to garner the existing material and collate it as the initial history of 
the town bearing your name, and whose territory was the theatre of 
your youthful aspirations and experience. By so doing, we feel that, 
in the ripeness of years and in the light of a long and useful public 
career, you will add another important historical production to the 
catalogue of those of which you are already the author. 

Trusting you may find it convenient to furnish us an early and 
favorable reply, we remain your friends and co-laborers in the interests 
of patriotism and a common humanity. 

James T. Joslin, 

J. L. Harriman, \ Committee. 

F. H. Chamberlain. 



Lexington, June 7, 1876. 
Gmtlemen: — In reply to your flattering note of the 3d instant, 
inviting me to be wnth you on the 4th of July next, prepared to give 
an Historic Address on the situation of your town, I must say frankly 
that my age and infirmities are such, that I am almost afraid to 
comply with your request ; and did it come from any other town, I 
should decline at once. But as it comes from a town in whose 
welfare I feel a special interest, I have concluded to accept your 
invitation. And as old age is said to be narrative, I will endeavor 
to collect what facts I can, trusting that I shall have your aid and 
co-operation in furnishing materials for an Historical Abstract of your 
town. I see in advance a very great embarrassment, as all your 
early history is so blended with that of Marlborough, that it will be 
impossible to give anything like a full and distinct history of your 
town before its organization. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, 

Your friend and serv't, 

Charles Hudson. 
James T. Joslin, J. L. Harriman, 

F. H. Chamberlain, Committee. 

SUB-COMMITTEES. 

The committee on singing, Russell B. Lewis, Chairman, 
did their work most successfully. The committee on finance, 
Edmund M. Stowe, Chairman, succeeded in raising funds, so 
that no appropriation was asked from the town. 

the celebration. 

From the original idea of exercises in the hall only, the 
festival grew to one of more general importance, and finally 
assumed the full proportions of an old-fashioned Fourth of 
July celebration, with the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, 
street pageant, and a good time generally. To the credit of 
the town let it be said, however, and may the fact never be for- 
gotten, the people as a whole seemed impressed with the grav- 
ity of the occasion to the extent, that all unseemly indulgence 
and excess were avoided, and a commendable respect and 
decorum ruled the day. The Sabbath Schools and Chorus 
added grace and melody to the general harmony which pre- 
vailed. 

So successful was the celebration that the town, at the fol- 
lowing November meeting, voted that the aforesaid general 



committee cause the oration, and such other matter connected 
with the celebration as the committee might deem advisable, 
to be published in pamphlet form, for the use of the town. At 
the same meeting the town voted unanimously, that the thanks 
of the citizens be extended to the Hon. Charle.s Hudson and 
Miss Phebe a. Holder, for gratuitously contributing ihe 
Address and Poem. 

A very correct idea of the manner in which the day was 
observed by the citizens, in pursuance of the programme 
arranged by the committee, may be gained from the following 
abstract from the report of the proceedings made by Stillman 
B. Pratt, of the Marlborough Mirror-Journal. 

PROCESSION. 

After describing the events of the morning in which the 
Antiques and Horribles were the chief attraction, the report 
says : — 

" The regular procession as marshalled by Col. W. E. C. 
Worcester and his aids, Capts. A. S. Trowbridge, and Joseph W. 
Pedrick, was a fine turn-out and elicited general admiration. 
This was the order of formation : 

Police Escort. 

Marshal and Aids. 

Division,! — F. E. Emery, Commanding. 

Co. I., Hudson Light Guard. 

Reno Post 9, G. A. R. 

Division 2 — R. H. Brigham, Commanding. 

Eureka Engine Co. 

Relief Hook and Ladder Co. 

Independent Hose Co. 
Juvenile Buckets and Rescues. 
Division 3 — W. B. Brighain, Commanding, 
Waldo Lodge, K. of P. 
Committee of Arrangements. 
Town Ofificers. . 
Orator and Invited Guests. 
Sunday Schools. 
Division 4 — W. McKee, Commanding. 
Trades and Industries. 
Hudson Farmers" and Mechanics' Club, with two yokes of oxen draw- 
ing members and implements and utensils. 



9 

Mowing Machine, Tedder and Rake, — Captain F. Brigham. 

C. G. Brigham's Hothouse team full of Plants and Shrubs. 

James Jillson's team with taxidermic specimens and work in progress 

in stuffing a goat. 
Geo. W. Davis, with two teams, one laden with bbls. of flour and 
the other with bags of meal. 
Milkmen's Wagons. 
A turnout of Market Carts of Messrs. Arnold, Chase, Coodwin. Pol- 
lard and Smith & Holden, A. L. Maynard, Stoves, etc. 
J. Jandron, Blacksmith team, with anvil, bellows, forge, etc., and two 

men at work. 



EXERCISES AT THE TOWN HALL. 

At ten o'clock, Town Hall was well filled. The exercises 
were of a high order, and promptly carried out. The gallery 
was occupied by the chorus, under the direction of R. B. 
Lewis, and the Sunday School children. On the platform, 
besides the town officers, officers of the day, etc., etc., there 
were a large number of old gentlemen, including among their 
number the following : 

W. P. Holden, j"] ; E. Whitney of Stow, 64 ; Elijah Hale of 
Stow. 88 ; Otis Heywood, 84 ; Silas Priest, ^6 ; Joseph Dakin, 
70; Rev. R. S. Persons, 6"] ; Joel Wilkins, 81 ; Wm. Stone, 78; 
Daniel Farnsworth, 70 ; Charles Brigham, 60 ; John Rice, 68 ; 
Isaac Hall, 80; Hon. Chas. Hudson, Lexington, 81 ; Elisha 
Gates, 82 ; Peter Foran, 78. 

On either side of the platform were the plows of 1776 and 
1876. 

After invocation by Rev. W. H. S. Ventres, Capt. Francis 
Brigham, Chairman of the Committee, called the meeting to 
order, and on account of his feeble health requested J. T. 
JosLiN to preside. On assuming the position of presiding 
officer, Mr. Joslin congratulated the assembly upon the auspi- 
cious circumstances under which they were convened. The 
heavens and the earth vie with each other to make the occasion 
memorable. We have arrived at the first centennial mile-stone 
in our country's career as a separate and independent nation. 



lO 



It is fit and proper that we should lay aside our ordinary 
avocations, and in this public hall, dedicated to the common 
weal, celebrate with music, songs, and oration, the hundredth 
anniversary of our national existence. The history of the past 
century is remarkable. From thirteen feeble and struggling 
colonies, we have become a powerful nation, with nearly thrice 
as many States. The physical and political growth of the 
nation is typical of its advance in Science, Literature, and the 
Mechanic Arts. He closed his introductory remarks by read- 
ing the following original 

PROLOGUE. 

All hail I Thrice hail ! ! Great day of Jubilee ; 
Deep bells and booming guns have welcomed thee. 
Assembled now, let us recall the story 
Of Freedom's march through conflict on to glory. 
Where once the savage bear and fierce wolf ran, 
To-day appear the wondrous works of man. 
Where once the dark primeval forests stood, 
To-day resound the songs of brotherhood. 
Two hundred fifty years this change have wrought, 
The wilds untamed, to happy homes are brought. 
Of this brief span, one hundred fifty years, 
Our sires, to conscience true, "mid many tears. 
Laid the foundations of this mighty land, 
And set the church and school on every hand. 
Another hundred years, recorded now, 
By God's great love were given, wherein the vow 
The Fathers made to build a temple fair, 
Unfinished then, descending to the heir, 
The sons, by filial love inspired, might raise, 
Sacred to justice and lehovah's praise. 
Completed is the work. May it endure 
Steadfast and strong, permanent and secure. 

Singing followed from the Sunday School children, and 
the reading, in fine style, of the Declaration of Independence 
by Rev. A. W. Mills. After music by the Marlborough Brass 
Band, the following original hymn by Rev. Hilary Bygrave, 
was sung by the audience, to the tune America. 



II 

CENTENNIAL HYMN. 

Guided by freedom's ray, 
The Fathers made their way, 

Across the sea. 
Leaning on God's strong hand. 
They sought a distant strand. 
And found this goodly land, 

Where all are free. 

For years they toiled and prayed. 
Thro' sunshine and thro' shade, 

To found a state. 
A state, where all should be 
Members of one family — 
A pure democracy, 

With each man great. 

Against Britannia's power. 
They raised a mighty tower. 

Of patriot men. 
And victory crowned their wars. 
For just and equal laws. 
And freedom's holy cause ; 

Thank God ! amen ! 

The nation grew apace, 
Contesting in the race, 

With other lands. 
And now a century old, 
With stores of lore and gold, 
And deathless deeds untold, 

Honor'd she stands. 

And may she still contend, 
And evermore ascend. 

To higher things. 
Till all the world shall say. 
That we have won the way. 
To that supremest sway. 

Which freedom brinfjs. 



12 

Bought with a price so great, 
May we prize our estate, 

With all its grace, 
And down the centuries roll, 
The force of self-control. 
And noble strength of soul, 

To bless the race. 

Thro' all the coming time, 
May we live lives sublime, 

And free from stain, 
And ever strive to be 
Worthy our ancestry. 
And with humility. 

Press on again. 

The Address of Hon. Charles Hudson, printed on the 
following pages, was followed by the Poem prepared for the 
occasion by Miss Phebe A. Holder. This was succeeded 
by speeches from Elbridge Howe, of Marlboro', and Edwin 
Whitney, of Stow, who ofhcially represented these towns as 
parent towns of the town of Hudson as originally incorporated. 
Then eame speeches from citizens of Hudson, viz: K. H. 
Peddick, Rev. Hilary Bygrave, Charles Brigham, Rev. 
A. W. Mills, Charles H. Rice, Rev. W. H. S. Ventres. 
The speaking was closed by Stillman B. Pratt, of Marlboro', 
who gave a brief interesting account of celebrations held in 
Marlborough when Hudson was a portion of that town, and 
consequently form an historical item worthy of preservation. 

The 40th anniversary of American Independence was cele- 
brated in Marlborough, July 4, 18 16. Three full militia 
companies took part. The oration was delivered in Rev. S. 
Bucklin's church, to a crowded house. Dinner was served at 
the east end of the old Gates House. 

July 5th, 1841, a grand Washingtonian Temperance Cele- 
bration was held there. Another temperance celebration took 
place July 3, 1852, with addresses by Dr. A. A. Miner, on 
Union Common, and picnic on High School Common. The 
" boro " towns and Berlin united on this occasion. 

The grandest celebration of all was the Bi-Centennial held 
July 13, i860, with the oration by Hon. C. Hudson under the 



13 

big tent on Ockoocangansett Hill, the dinner and speeches in 
the tent near the South depot, and the picnic of 1300 children 
on Fairmount. Fifteen brass bands furnished music enough 
for a small peace jubilee. 

July 4, 1865, was celebrated with oration and dinner, under 
a tent on the Old Common. 

In all these Marlborough celebrations the people of Hudson 
have lent a helping hand and shown an active participation. 

The exercises in the hall closed with a benediction by Rev. 
W. H. S. Ventres, after which the officers and guests partook 
of a collation in the lower hall. Salutes were fired and bells 
rung at sunrise, noon and sunset. The evening fireworks on 
Mount Assabet were a surprise to all by their brilliancy and 
beauty. Capt. Trowbridge was in charge of the artillery, and 
Dr. LoNGENECKER of the fireworks. Not an accident occurred, 
nor was a single arrest made. Indeed so few signs of 
drunkenness were never manifest before on Independence Day, 
the venders and drinkers of liquors both co-operating in 
putting this appetite for drink under subjection. It was 
altogether a day of which to be proud. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

BY HON. CHARLES HUDSON. 



Ancient History is but a narration of wars and 
fightings, of blood and carnage, of lands desolated, of 
cities sacked, of towns wrapt in flames, and a public 
exhibit of suffering, barbarity and crime on a broad 
scale. The only relief from this wholesale slaughter, is 
found in the less public massacres, or cases where those 
who wore or who aspired at a crown, have caused their 
rivals to be cast into loathsome prisons to perish, or 
to be executed on the scaffold, or to be taken off by 
some hired assassin. 

But among the proofs of advancing civilization is the 
change of feeling and taste on these subjects. Now, 
the horrors of war, " the confused noise, and garments 
rolled in blood," have lost their charms, and the 'mass 
of the people desire pictures less revolting. They 
prefer to contemplate the arts of peace, the diffusion of 
knowledge, the spread of justice and humanity — in a 
word, the general advance of Christian civilization in 
the world. Every lover of his race must rejoice at 
this moral progress. 

Not, however, that we would be unmindful of our 
country's welfare, or regardless of our own rights. As 
we love our country, we would protect and defend her 



15 

interest and her honor. But the world is beirinnine to 
learn that an interchange of fraternal feeling, and a 
respect for the rights of others, is the wisest system of 
national defence, and will do more than fleets and 
armies to preserve the peace of the world ; and that 
true wisdom teaches that the sword, though valuable 
in its place, should not be drawn till all other means 
have failed. 

On this centennial year, when we are rendering our 
thanksgivings to the Author of all good for the pros- 
perity he has vouchsafed to us, and when we are 
inviting the nations to our shores to rejoice with us, 
not in our prosperity alone, but in the general peace of 
the world, and the march of liberal sentiments, it 
becomes us to contribute our share to swell the noble 
current of public feeling, and strive to promote the 
harmony and welfare of the nations. We have, in 
fact, a double duty to perform — the duty which we 
owe to foreign nations, and perhaps the more delicate 
and difficult duty, which we owe to our late hostile 
brethren of the South. That we ought to receive in a 
cordial manner those who have submitted themselves 
and accepted the result of the late unfortunate struggle, 
there can be no doubt. But this duty is founded on 
high and patriotic principles, and should be performed 
in such a manner as to secure lasting harmony between 
the different sections of our country, and so render our 
Union more peaceful and prosperous. 

If we assail our southern brethren with taunts and 
boasts that we have vanquished them in battle ; or 
in that sickly sentimentality, of which we see some 
specimens, which approaches them, hat in hand, extol- 
ling their bravery, and humbly entreating them to come 
back into the Union, and live in peace with us, we 
sink our manhood, and justly forfeit the respect of all 



i6 

patriotic statesmen. Or, if we receive as due and 
enlightened submission, the haughty bravado of one 
who relies upon the fact that he has held a commission 
in the confederate army, or has fought under Davis, 
Jackson, or Lee, we are doing nothing calculated to gain 
the respect of the people abroad, or to render perpetual 
pur free institutions. Enlightened patriotism requires 
that we should be forgiving, in all cases of penitence, 
and due submission. 

We are assembled here to celebrate the birthday of 
the nation ; and this anniversary, always interesting, 
is rendered doubly so at this time, from the fact that we 
have had a full century of experience since our fathers 
announced to the world that we were a free and inde- 
pendent nation. The doctrines of human freedom, set 
forth in the instrument announcing our independence, 
commended themselves to the good sense of mankind ; 
but the question arose, whether there was intelligence 
and integrity enough in the people, to establish and 
carry forward successfully a system of self-government. 
Eighty years of general prosperity had satisfied most 
people that our system had proved a perfect success. 
We had enjoyed all the blessings of good government. 
We had had almost uninterrupted peace. The wars in 
which we had been engaged, had been of short duration 
and of no considerable magnitude ; and we had been 
able to meet each event, and turn it to a eood account. 
Most people, therefore, were ready to say that the 
experiment of a free government had succeeded, and 
that we were prepared to meet any emergency that 
could arise. 

But some of the wisest statesmen abroad, and even in 
our own country, were still of the opinion at the end of 
eighty years' experience, that our experiment was but 



half tried ; that we had shown that our institutions were 
adapted to a state of peace and prosperity, whe'n things 
would take care of themselves ; but ,that they had not 
been tested by the trying ordeal of an oppressive and 
protracted war. Our government, we were told, was 
not strong enough for such a crisis, and our Constitu- 
tion gave us no power to control a State. Such 
doctrines were proclaimed boldly by the advocates of 
monarchical institutions, and were becoming popular in 
some sections of our own country. But a crisis arose, 
when these forebodings were to be met. Several States 
had passed ordinances of secession, and had seized the 
property of the United States ; and the imbecile then 
at the head of the nation, gave up in despair, saying 
we had no authority to coerce a State. 

But the incoming administration was pleased to say, 
that we had nothing to do with States, as such ; that 
the general government could control its own subjects, 
and if rebellion broke out in any section of the country, 
the government had full authority to subdue the rebels, 
irrespective of the State to which they belonged. This 
doctrine met the crisis, and satisfied enlightened states- 
men that we had power by the Constitution to sustain 
the government — the power of self-preservation. When 
the people were summoned to maintain the integrity 
of the Union, and sustain the honor of our flag, which 
had been assailed by a portion of our own countrymen, 
they were found ready to obey their country's call. 
And when, for a short time, in some localities, a portion 
of the citizens hesitating to respond to the call of the 
Executive, a draft was ordered and for a limited period 
enforced, the people were convinced that the govern- 
ment had ample power to command the services of its 
own citizens. 

There had been a misapprehension relative to the 



i8 

power of our government in time of war. As we had 
had no "war since the adoption of the Constitution 
which put the extreme powers of the government in 
requisition, and the war power granted by the Constitu- 
tion had not been carried out by statutory enactment, it 
seemed to be talven for granted that our government 
did not possess the extreme powders of a nation at war. 
But when the Constitution was read in the Hght of a 
civil war which threatened the Kfe of the Repubhc, it 
was seen at once that it granted the war power as 
clearly as the peace power ; that Congress was empow- 
ered not only to regulate commerce, but " to declare 
war, raise and support armies, to provide and maintain 
a navy, and to make rules for the government of the 
land and naval forces ; " and all these forces were to be 
put at the disposal of the President, as Commander-in- 
chief. 

As the Constitution gives no definition of the war 
power, and as we had not by legislation defined the 
extent of that power, we were required to look to 
the law of nations to ascertain its nature, extent, and 
limitation. And here we found the power ample, cen- 
tering in the great principle of self-defence or self- 
preservation. 

Even on the subject of African servitude, where the 
opinion was nearly unanimous that slavery, being a 
State institution, was beyond the control of the general 
government in the State where it was established ; it 
was found that by the law of nations, slavery was 
subject to the war power ; and when the commander- 
in-chief regarded the exigency sufficient, he had full 
power to do anything which would strengthen himself, 
or weaken his enemy, provided it did not outrage 
humanity. This gave President Lincoln authority to 
issue that immortal Proclamation, which converted four 



19 

millions of human chattels into the Lord's freemen, and 
so wiped out that foul stain from the escutcheon of our 
country. Well, then, may we rejoice in the stability of 
our institutions, which have proved our guide in peace 
and our bulwark in war. 

We have met to recount the blessings we have 
enjoyed ; to review our past history, and so be able to 
show to those who come after us, that free institutions 
contribute to national growth, and are productive of 
individual prosperity and happiness. We have, also, 
another object on this auspicious occasion. We wish to 
collect materials for our annals, and exhibit our present 
standing, so that on the return of this centennial day, a 
just comparison may easily be instituted between our 
condition now, and at that time. We see the zeal which 
is manifested, and the efforts which are made, to ascer- 
tain the condition of the community a hundred years 
ago ; and we have no doubt that those who celebrate 
the next centennial, will be as anxious to know our 
condition to-day, as we are to learn the condition of 
our ancestors a century past. It must also be pleasing 
to ourselves to bring our history up to the present time, 
so that we may see through what changes we have 
passed, and also to make the present a land-mark from 
which to view our future progress or decline. We 
hardly realize the importance of keeping our annals 
posted. What occurs to-day, we feel that we know, 
and that there is no necessity of committing it to paper. 
But the event which is present to-day, will be past to- 
morrow ; and what we witness now and understand 
fully, will in a few years be partially or wholly forgotten. 

But Hudson, in some respects, is unfortunate in the 
fact that, as a municipality, her history extends back 
only about ten years. Before 1866, the history of 



20 



Hudson was merged in that of Marlborough and the 
Indian Plantation. This fact renders it impossible to 
give a minute account of the early annals of the town. 
For two centuries, Hudson had no existence separate 
from Marlborough, the glorious mother of most of us. 
When, therefore, any event of an historical character 
occurred, and was entered on the Marlborough records, 
we are unable, in most cases, to decide whether the 
event occurred, or the party resided in what is now the 
old town, or in the territory belonging to Hudson. 
This consideration must show that the historian of this 
modern town must be satisfied with a history m.eagre 
in ancient incidents. We will, however, supply what 
early events can be gathered and authenticated. 

The early history of Hudson is not only involved 
with that of Marlborou8:h, but with the history of the 
Indian Plantation, a portion of the latter territory being 
included in the new town. In fact, the history of these 
Indians is so interwoven with the local, and even with 
the general history of this section, that we cannot pass 
it by without a brief notice. 

When our fathers first came to Massachusetts, the 
country was sparsely peopled. The desolating wars 
among the tribes, and a destructive pestilence, which 
had not only ' wasted in darkness, but destroyed at 
noon day,' had in a great degree depopulated this 
section of New England. The few savages left were 
generally disposed to live peaceably with the whites. 
In 1643, their principal chiefs came in, and submitted 
themselves to the General Court of Massachusetts, on 
the assurance that they should be allowed certain plan- 
tations, and be protected in their rights. The Indians 
who were located at Marlborough, were a small remnant 
of the Natick and Wamesit tribes. They had a planting 
field at Ockoocangansett, before the Sudbury men had 



21 



petitioned for a township ; and when that request was 
presented, the petitioners were informed that the Court 
had not only confirmed the Indians in their planting 
field, but had granted them a plantation of six thousand 
acres ; and that the Sudbury grant, so far as location 
was concerned, must be subordinate to the Indian 
grant. 

When the locations of these grants were made, they 
presented the singular and almost ridiculous sight of 
an Indian Plantation nearly surrounded by the grant of 
the township to the Sudbury men. The Indian planting 
field consisted of about one hundred and sixty acres, 
and included what was afterw-ards known as the old 
]\Ieeting House Common, and the hill or swell of land 
extending east to Spring Hill, and north to the road 
passing by the residence of the late William Loring 
Howe. This planting field penetrated into the very 
centre or heart of the Marlborough grant, and was al- 
w^ays an eyesore to the English inhabitants. In fact, 
it so far intruded into their township, that when they 
built their meeting-house, they located it on the Indian 
planting field, to the great dissatisfaction of the Indians. 
The Ockoocangansett, or Indian Plantation, of six thou- 
sand acres, was laid out in connection with their planting 
field. The west line commenced in the valley immedi- 
ately west of the old common, near where the present 
High school-house stands, and ran north seven degrees 
west, about three and a half miles, crossing the Assabet 
river, between the present cemetery and the depot in 
Hudson ; thence the line ran easterly to the boundary 
of the town. The southerly line of the plantation 
commenced near Spring Hill, on the road leading to 
Hudson, and ran three miles east, to the line of 
Sudbury ; thence on Sudbury line, till it met the line 
east from Hudson before mentioned. This plantation, 



22 



as will be seen, embraced a large quantity of valuable 
land, which of course was coveted by the Marlborough 
people. The plantation was granted to the Indians in 
fee simple, with no restriction except that they should 
not sell or alienate it without the consent of the 
General Court. And this restriction was inserted in 
the grant as a protection to the Indians against land 
speculators, who might fraudulendy dispossess them of 
their lands. 

The English setders and the Indians generally lived 
peaceably together. Not only the inhabitants of Marl- 
borough, but the General Court were disposed to deal 
kindly with the Indians and protect them in their rights. 
The Court encouraged the Apostle Eliot, in his laudable 
effort to civilize and Christianize the Indians, and so 
convert them into valuable citizens. Not only the 
remnant located at Marlborough, but several other 
plantations, shared Eliot's care, and were generally 
designated Praying Indians. There were seven of 
these Praying towns : Natick, now the town of that 
name ; Packemitt, now Stoughton ; Ockoocangansett, now 
Marlborough ; Wamesit, now Lowell ; Hassanainisett, 
now Grafton ; Nashobah, now Littleton ; and Magun- 
kook, now Hopkinton. As these plantations were in the 
midst of the English settlements, no doubt the labors of 
Eliot and his friend Gookin, contributed in a great 
degree to the preservation of peace between them and 
the English ; and though the Indians may have aided 
their brethren, in some degree, in Philip's war, they 
would have been much more dangerous to the whites, 
but for the religious instruction they had received. 

Eliot was sincerely devoted to the Indians, and sought 
by every means to improve their temporal and spiritual 
condition. He was born in England in 1604, and came 
to this country in 163 1. He was settled as a clergyman 



23 

in Roxbury. He early conceived the idea of civilizing 
and Christianizing the Indians, and commenced preach- 
ing to them in Newton, in 1646. To prepare himself 
for the work, he learned their language ; in 1663, 
he translated the New Testament, and in i665, the 
Old Testament, into Indian, that the natives might be 
enabled to read the word of life in their own tongue. 
His Bible thus translated, bore the title, " Mamusse 
Wunmeetupanatmwe Up-Biblum God naneeswe Nuk- 
kane Testament kahwank Wusku Testament." The 
longest word in it was, Wutappesittukgussunnookweh- 
tunkquoh, signifying " kneeling down to Him." 

These Praying Indians, though generally peaceable, 
were more than suspected of aiding Philip in his attacks 
upon the English settlements. During that war, many 
of those of the Marlborough tribe were absent from 
their plantation ; and such was the evidence or suspicion 
against them, that the government sent Captain Mosely 
with a detail of soldiers, who appeared suddenly, and 
surrounding their fort, made them all prisoners, and 
took them to Boston, where they were confined on one 
of the islands in the harbor. At the close of Philip's 
war, a portion of these Indians returned to their planta- 
tion at Marlborough, though the spirit and unity of the 
tribe seemed to be broken. 

Their territory, which the English had long coveted, 
attracted more attention at the close of the war than it 
ever had before. The fact that the tribe appeared in 
some degree to be scattered, and the belief that some 
of them, at least, had been treacherous, and had aided 
the enemy, strengthened the impression that their lands, 
which penetrated the very heart of Marlborough, should 
be devoted to other and more valuable purposes than 
their retention as a mere hunting ground. In 1677, cer- 
tain citizens of Marlborough, Lancaster, and Sudbury, 



24 

preferred a petition to the General Court, setting forth 
that the Marlborough Indians during the recent war had 
been perfidious, and had taken part with the enemy, and 
so had forfeited their tide to the plantation of Ockoo- 
cangansett ; and that the petitioners had been in their 
country's service, and had suffered in their persons and 
estates ; wherefore, they humbly prayed that the Court 
would grant to them the said tract of land, or that it be 
sold to them on moderate terms. But the Court did 
not see fit to grant their request. 

In May, 1684, John Ruddocke, and thirty-four others 
of Marlborough, petitioned the General Court for 
authority to purchase of the Indians their plantation ; 
and ten of the Indians joined in the request. But a 
much larger number of the Indians remonstrated against 
the prayer of the petitioners. The General Court, in 
this case as in every other, adhered to their plighted 
faith; and deeming it unwise for the Indians to sell their 
land, they consequently denied the prayer of Ruddocke 
and others. But it appears that the principal inhabi- 
tants of Marlborough, headed by John Brigham, a bold 
operator, resolved to possess the Indian land, and cut 
the knot which they could not untie. On the i5th 
of July, 1684, they obtained, without the consent of the 
Court, a deed of the plantation from a large portion of 
the Indians. This fact beine brousfht to the knowledge 
of the authorities, they pronounced the deed illegal, 
and consequently null and void ; being made and done 
expressly contrary to law and the order of the Court. 

But regardless of this decision of the Court, the pur- 
chasers of the plantation, in October, 1686, decided that 
every proprietor should have laid out to him in some of 
the best of the land lying as conveniently as may be, to 
the town of Marlborough, thirty acres for a first division 
of upland ; and when the lots were laid out, every 



25 

proprietor should draw his lot. Feeling uneasy about 
the title to their land, in 1693, they agreed that their 
grants of land " shall stand good to all intents and 
purposes, if they be attested by John Brigham, their 
clerk." Despairing of any confirmation of their doings 
by the Court, whose authority they had expressly dis- 
regarded, at a meeting held in 1709 they voted, "that 
they would make articles to bind themselves in a cove- 
nant, whereby what we do may stand in force." Subse- 
quently the proprietors signed a covenant, that they 
would pay each his several share to defray all charges 
growing out of their lands, or the titles thereof. 

The proprietors were conscious that their title was 
invalid, and hence they persevered in their application 
to the Court for a confirmation of their purchase. The 
Court were not inclined to reverse their .decision. 
But in 1 7 19, they annexed this territory to Marlborough, 
and at the same time, as the "proprietors had gained a 
title by possession, confirmed and legalized their land 
titles. 

We have dwelt longer upon this Indian Plantation 

than might seem necessary. But as the history of the 

parent town was so immediately connected with this 

Indian Plantation, and as one-half of the territory of 

Hudson, taken from Marlborough, was included in that 

grant, it seemed important that we should know the 

character of our predecessors and the origin of our 

possessions. We must admit that there is something 

melancholy in the thought, that the lands we possess in 

peace, were once the joyful possession of a people 

who have faded away, and retired from the English 

settlements as from a desolating pestilence. When 

we look at this subject in one point of view, we are 

almost inclined to find fault with the conduct of our 

fathers, and regret the order of Providence. But a 
4 



26 

moment's reflection will correct our false judging, and 
the wisdom of Providence in the displacement of the 
Indians will appear in another light. Though there may 
be a sadness in the thought of the extinction of the 
orio-inal owners of the soil, it is no more sad than what 
we witness daily in society. 

To see an old gentleman, who has been useful in his 
day and generation, tottering on the brink of the grave 
and finally passing off the stage, when viewed abstractly, 
must appear sad ; but when we consider that he has 
fulfilled his destiny, and outlived his usefulness, and has 
simply passed from this sublunary scene of action, to 
make room for younger men, who are better able to 
carry forward the great work of civilization, we can 
but see the wisdom of Divine Providence. And it is 
precisely, so with the natives of this country; they 
retire to make way for a wiser population, which will 
carry forward the great work of improvement far better 
than the wild men of the forest. 

There is a morbid sensibility on the subject of the 
supplanting of the red men ; and the whites are 
frequently accused of a great wrong in dispossessing 
the Indians of their lands. This subject merits a 
moment's attention. When God created man, he com- 
manded him to cultivate the earth, and subdue it ; and 
it is perfectly obvious, that one important element in 
the tide to the soil is, tlie mingling of labor with 
it, and so rendering it more capable of supporting 
human beings. Every one knows that the same tract 
of country will support a much larger number of civilized 
than of savage men. The man who fells a forest, and 
prepares the land for cultivation, has certainly a better 
title to the soil, than the man who has simply roamed 
through it in quest of game. The one, by his labor, 
has fitted it for the support of a civilized population ; 



27 

the other has mixed no labor with the soil, and if 
successful in hunting-, may have rendered the forest less 
capable of sustaining such a population. While we 
bless the Lord for his o-oodness in creatine man, and 
believe that a cultivated country will support a larger 
population than a wilderness, we must admit that the 
disappearance of the savage tribes gives a fuller display 
of divine benevolence, than could exist if the inferior 
race should maintain its standing, and devote the 
greater part of the country to mere hunting ground. 

But while true wisdom teaches us to submit readily 
to the manifest destiny of the Indians, this will not 
justify us in treating them harshly, or depriving them of 
any of their rights. As the child knows that his aged 
parent must in a few years pass from the stage of life, 
so we know that the savage must give place to civilized 
man. But in neither case does this knowledge justify 
any severity. On the contrary, the approaching depart- 
ure should in both cases excite our compassion, and 
ensure kind treatment. 

The history of Hudson being included in that of 
Marlborough till quite recently, it becomes necessary 
to take a brief view of the parent town. The grant 
of Marlborough was made to certain petitioners from 
the town of Sudbury, in i65'/ ; and in 1660 the terri- 
tory was incorporated into a town. The township was 
large, and included what is now the towns of West- 
borough, Northboroutdi, and Southborougrh. Beino- a 
frontier town, and a kind of way-station on the line of 
travel from Boston to the settlements on the Connecticut 
river, it was greatly exposed to the incursions of the 
Indians ; and in Philip's war, their meeting-house, 
and many of their dwellings were burned, and the 
settlement substantially broken up. But after the 
return of the population, the Indian's from Canada 



28 

made frequent incursions into the original township, 
and killed or carried into captivity several persons. 
To guard against these dangers, twenty-five or thirty 
garrisons were established, one at the present village 
of Hudson, and two or three others near the borders 
of the present town. During the old French war the 
town was nearly drained of its active male population, 
who were called into the field to repel the incursions 
of the French and Indians. After these wars had 
been brought to a successful termination, and the con- 
troversy arose with the mother country, Marlborough 
took a decided stand in support of the claims of the 
Colonies; and when on the 19th of April, i775, she 
heard of the march of the British from Boston, and 
the fatal firing upon the militia at Lexington, she 
dispatched, on a few hours' notice, four companies of 
soldiers, consisting of about two hundred men, to the 
scene of action, — resolved to vindicate their rights or 
perish in the attempt. We cannot conceive of a more 
sublime spectacle than that of the people, with no 
orders, moved only by a patriotic impulse, leaving their 
homes and their business, quitting their families and 
taking^ their lives in their hands, and marching- at a 
moment's warning, thirty miles, to repel the invaders of 
human rights ! And what shows the sincerity of the 
Marlborough soldiers, is, that some of the men, thus 
hastily leaving home, remained in camp watching the 
enemy thirty and even forty days. And during the 
whole Revolutionary struggle, Marlborough furnished 
her quota of men and supplies, and proved herself 
patriotic to the last. 

In all these trials and privations, and in the laudable 
efforts to sustain free principles, and to resist haughty 
oppression, the population residing in the north part 
ol the town, were not behind the other inhabitants. 



29 

They claim no superiority, and they allow no inferiority, 
in their efforts for the cause of their country. Also, 
throughout her whole history, Marlborough has had 
no reason to complain of the citizens in the northern 
section of the town, and they in return, having now 
set up for themselves, have no complaints to bring 
against their lawful mother. They acted together, 
till mutual interest suggested a separation. Even in 
the late war in defence of the Union, though Felton- 
ville, as the village was then called, had become 
somewhat populous, and acted in a certain sense 
independently of the parent town, yet, being a part of 
Marlborough, all its legal acts were those of the town. 
It is believed that in the late war, the part of the town 
constituting Hudson, furnished its full complement of 
men, and did a full share in supplying the troops who 
were in the field. The patriotism of the village was 
never called in question. 

Though it is impossible to separate the history of the 
northern part of Marlborough from the rest of the town, 
it is certain that according to its population, the northern 
portion furnished as many men for the principal munici- 
pal offices, as any section of the town. For the first 
half century, there were very few inhabitants in the part 
now contained in Hudson ; but as population increased 
at the north, there was at least a fair proportion of 
public offices filled by men inhabiting the northern 
section of the township. Since 1800, we could mention 
John, Jonathan, and Joseph Hapgood, Nathan, Abner, 
and David Goodale, Robert Barnard, Silas Jewell, 
Edward and Robert Hunter, Amasa and Joel Cranston, 
Lovewell Barnes, Silas Felton, Stephen Rice, Jedediah 
and Wm. H. Wood, Ezekiel Bruce, George E. Manson, 
S. B. Fairbanks, Francis Brigham, J. T. Joslin, Ebenezer 
Witt, G. S. Rawson, Stephen Pope, Edward Wilkins, 



30 

and others, who have resided on the territory which is 
now included in Hudson, and some of them held the 
respective offices for a long period. Jonathan Hapgood 
was Selectman nine years, Lovewell Barnes, eight years, 
Joel Cranston, four years, Silas Felton, eleven years, 
Jedediah Wood, four years, G. E. Manson, eleven years, 
David Goodale, five years, and W. H. Wood, several 
years. Besides, Silas Felton was Assessor twenty-five 
years, and Town Clerk thirteen years. Joel Cranston 
and Stephen Pope, each represented the County in the 
State Senate ; and Cranston, Felton, Hale, Goodale, 
Francis Brigham, and others, have represented the town 
in the House of Representatives. As Justices of the 
Peace, we can name Cranston, Felton, S. Pope, Wm. 
H. Wood, D. Goodale, G. S. Rawson, G. E. Manson, 
and J. T. Joslin. from this section of the town. 

From this glance at the subject, it will be seen that 
the inhabitants of the northern section of old Marl- 
borouofh, had their full share of influence in the town, 
and a due proportion of the honors the inhabitants had 
to bestow. But, in order to a just appreciation of the 
origin of the setdement of this part of Marlborough, 
it is necessary to take into the account the state of 
things as they existed two centuries ago, and the causes 
which would aflfect the settlement in different sections 
of the town. Some of these causes, such as fear from 
the Indians, we can hardly appreciate at the present 
day, though at that time, they were rightfully controlling. 
The tomahawk and scalping-knife, or hopeless captivity, 
made the stout heart hesitate and the boldest tremble. 
And the incursions which were made into the original 
township, show that the danger was real. 

For various reasons, the northern part of Marlbo- 
rough, which is now included in Hudson, was not 
setded so early as the southern and central portion of 



31 

the township. In the first place, one half of the terri- 
tory set off from Marlborough to form the town of 
Hudson, was covered by the Indian Plantation, and no 
valid title could be given of the land till 1719. This of 
course would discourage settlements on that territory. 
Then, during the Indian wars, .the people would 
naturally be • disposed to settle somewhat compactly, 
that they might the better defend themselves. Marl- 
borough, being on the great thoroughfare between 
Boston and the settlements on the Connecticut river, 
the government made it a sort of military depot, and 
maintained a small garrison there, which would give a 
sense of security to the settlers. Besides, the meeting- 
house, always the great object of attraction to the 
Puritans, being on the main road, would be an additional 
reason why the people would be induced to settle in 
that section of the township. 

Moreover, there seems to have been a disposition 
among the early settlers to confine the population to 
the central part of the town, as may be seen by their 
action as early as 1662. After dividing about a thou- 
sand acres of land among themselves, and reserving 
" four score acres to accommodate some such desirable 
person as need may require, and the town may accept 
of," they described a large quantity of land, including 
the valley of the Assabet down to the Indian Plantation, 
and provided that it should remain a perpetual cow 
co'tmno7i for the use of the town, " never to be allotted 
without the consent of all the inhabitants and proprie- 
tors at a full meeting." This unwise restriction proved 
very embarrassing ; but remained in force nearly half a 
century, and was at last removed by an Act of the 
General Court. This restriction would seem to prevent 
any settlement on the Assabet river. 

There was practically, a similar policy adopted by the 



32 

English proprietors of the Indian Plantation. For 
before they had made any division of their land, they 
provided " that every proprietor should have sixty acres 
of some of the best land lying convenie^itly as may be to 
the tawny This would tend to draw settlers to the 
centre of the town, where the principal population was 
then found. 

The inhabitants of the town and the proprietors 
of the Indian Plantation, made several divisions of 
their lands. Their first division generally consisted 
of some of their most valuable land ; and in laying it 
out, they were not always careful to have their lots 
contiguous. Hence there would frequently be rem- 
nants or gores of land unappropriated ; and the second, 
third, and fourth divisions, and especially the last, are 
frequently made up of these odds and ends. Many of 
the proprietors would sell out their rights in these 
latter divisions, and the land speculators or jobbers 
would very often buy up these remnants from different 
parties or proprietors, and frequently sell them out to 
settlers. We often find deeds given by these specu- 
lators, conveying from five to ten or twelve distinct 
pieces of land, varying from one to thirty acres, and 
sometimes to a less quantity than an acre. This 
renders it very difficult to trace the early titles, or to 
ascertain the homestead of many families. Where lot 
A is bounded on lot B, and B on lot C, and C on 
common or undivided land, it requires no ordinary 
skill to fix the location. And the frequent statement 
that the same being in the right of A. BJs second or 
third division lot, casts no light upon the subject ; for 
Mr. A. B. may not reside within a half dozen miles 
of his lot. 

We have a good illustration of this in the deed to 
Robert Barnard, conveying the mill and most of the 



33 

land now covered by the village of Hudson. The mill 
recognized by the deed was erected by Joseph Howe, 
son of Abraham Howe, who was one of the propri- 
etors of Marlborough. Joseph was a large speculator 
in land — owning tracts in Marlborough, Lancaster and 
Watertown. He died Sept. 4, 1700. His real estate 
was inventoried at ^1,442. What year the mill was 
built is uncertain ; probably just before his death. 
Sarah, his oldest child, married Jeremiah Barstow in 
1 7 1 1 ; he, by his wife or by purchase, came into 
possession of the mill, and a large number of other lots, 
which covered nearly if not all of what constitutes the 
village of Hudson. In 1723 he sold to Robert Bar- 
nard,* then of Andover, for ^600, a large quantity of 
land amounting to about 360 acres. This land is 
described in fifteen pieces lying in what was Marl- 
borough, and three pieces lying in Lancaster, afterwards 
Bolton. The general description shows that there were 
a corn mill, a house and barn, an orchard, garden, and 
fences on the homestead ; that the whole tract extended 
on the north to the Lancaster line, and easterly to the 
Bush place (near Daniel Stratton's) ; that it lay on 
both sides of the river, and while the northern portion 
of this general grant extended as far east as the land of 
Abiah Bush, the portion near the river on both sides, 
could not have extended easterly beyond the Indian 
line, which must have been between the Depot and 
the Cemetery. It also appears that the pieces on the 
south side of the river were generally bounded on com- 
mon or undivided land. It seems that this deed to 

* Robert Barnard, Sen., was in Andover earlv. His son Stephen was 
born 1649, and married, 1671, Rebecca Howe, by whom he had four sons. 
Robert, his second son, was born 1689, and married, 1710, Rebecca 
Osgood. She died 1727, and he married Elizabeth Bailey of Lancaster, in 
1729. He had nine children, seven born in Marlborough. He died, 1773, 
aged 84 years. 
5 



34 

Barnard must cover nearly the whole of the present 
village of Hudson, so far as it is within that portion 
which has been taken from Marlborough. 

This mill, and dwelling house, and barn, and other 
" housing," were undoubtedly comprised in the first 
setdement in this section of the town. While there is 
nothing special in the soil or natural scenery to draw 
setders from the central part of the town, there was 
one want of a new settlement which could be better 
supplied here than elsewhere in the township. Though 
burning coals or hot embers could parch the corn, or 
a stone pesde could convert it into a coarse hominy, 
or the boiling kettle into samp; yet it has always been 
found not only convenient, but highly desirable to 
have a grist mill where corn and other grains can be 
changed into meal. This feeling will easily account 
for building a mill in the out-part of the town, — this 
being the best water power within their borders. 

When this mill was erected, or how Joseph Howe 
obtained the site is uncertain. In 1662 the valley of 
the Assabet was doomed to perpetual pasturage, which 
would seem to prevent any sale or allotment of land 
upon its banks. There were two exceptions to this 
restriction. The one was the reserving of four score 
acres for some needful person, and the other the vote of 
all the persons at a full meeting of the proprietors. 
On one or the other of these exceptions, he probably 
obtained this grant ; for the citizens must have looked 
favorably upon the erection of a corn mill. Barstow 
married a daughter of Joseph Howe, about eleven years 
after the death of her father, and perhaps may have 
come into the possession of some of this property in 
virtue of the right of his wife; but in 17 18, Barstow 
bought of Bethia Howe twenty-five acres of land 
bordering upon the mill-pond, and several other lots 



35 

adjoining, which were beyond question some of the 
lands which Barstow sold to Barnard. 

That Jeremiah Barstow was a speculator in land, is 
obvious from the fact that in his grant of three hundred 
acres to Barnard, he bounds the grant in several 
instances, on lands owned by himself; and two years 
before his sale to Barnard, he sold land to Jonathan 
Bush. He had a family of ten children between 171 2 
and 1730, probably born in the village, as he was the 
miller and must have resided there. He undoubtedly 
left town soon after 1730. 

We may safely date the beginning, or rather the 
growth of the village from the coming of Barnard into 
the place, about 1724. He took possession of the mill, 
and also opened a public house on the site of the house 
and store occupied' by the late Col. Wm. H. Wood. 
Though the Barnards in the male line, did not multi- 
ply materially at the " Mills,'' as the place was called, 
in the female line they were connected by marriage 
with the Bayleys, Nurses, Howes, Stevenses, Bruces. 
Wilkinses, and several other families, who were quite 
numerous in the northern part of the town. Though 
there was no particular growth to the village till after 
the Revolution, yet there were several families of 
substantial farmers, who settled upon what is now 
included in Hudson. Among the earliest, perhaps, we 
may mention the Goodale family.* Samuel Wheeler 
deeded land to John Witt and John Goodale, from 

♦Goodale. —Robert Goodale embarked at Ipswich, England, with his wife 
Katharine in April, 1634, and landed in Salem. Zachariah, their first child born in 
America, married and had, among other sons, John, Benjamin, and David, born in 
Salem. Each of them came to Marlborough, and settled on the Indian Plantation, 
early in 1700. John married Elizabeth Witt, and had Solomon and Nathan. Nathan 
married Persis Whitney, and had a large family, — Abner, their tenth child, who 
married Molly Howe, was prominent in church and state, and his sons, Nathan and 
David, were distinguished as educators ; and the latter became one of the leading 
men of the town. He resided where his son David B. now lives. 



36 

Salem ; and Witt conveyed his right to Goodale, and 
that prominent and influential family have occupied the 
place where David B. Goodale resides, since 1702. 

Thomas Hapgood settled in the Indian Plantatation, 
before 1 70D, on what was afterwards called the Colonel 
Wessen or Spurr Place. His descendants have been 
numerous, and the early generations all resided within 
the present limits of Hudson. Thomas Hapgood died 
1764, aged 95 years. An English publication had this 
notice of his death : " Died at Marlborough, New 
England, in the 95th year of his age, Mr. Thomas 
Hapgood. His posterity were numerous ; viz. 9 chil- 
dren ; 92 grandchildren; 208 great-grandchildren ; and 
4 great-great-grandchildren; in all 313. His grand- 
children saw their grandchildren, and their grand- 
father at the same time." 

Shadrach Hapgood, their original ancestor, came to 
this country in i656, and settled in Sudbury. He was 
treacherously slain by the Indians in Philip's war. 
The Wilkinses came from Danvers, and settled on the 
Indian Plantation about 1740, where a number of fami- 
lies of the name resided for several generations. 
Artemas Howe, a descendant of Abraham Howe, 
married Mary Bigelow, 1767, and settled on the road 
leading from the Hapgoods, to the centre of the town, 
north of Fort Meadow Brook. He was, probably, the 
first who settled and reared a family of Howes on the 
present territory of Hudson. Abiah Bush settled in the 
northern part of Marlborough, as early, probably, as 
1690. John Bruce came to Marlborough about 1740, 
and settled on what has since been known as the Ezekiel 
Bruce Place. Nathaniel Hathorn, probably from Lynn, 
came to Marlborough about 1725, and settled on what 
is now occupied as the Pauper establishment. Edward 
Hunter came to Marlborough about the same time, and 



37 

settled in the same neighborhood. Solomon Brigham, 
a lineal descendant of Thomas Brigham, married Martha 
Boyd in 1754, and about ly 56 located himself on the 
road leading from the "mills" to the centre of the town, 
on the place where Charles Brigham now resides. He 
was the grandfather of Francis Brigham, to whose enter- 
prise the town owes no small share of its prosperity. 

As these settlers were generally farmers, and resided 
some distance from the " mills," their intercourse was 
for the most part with the middle of the town, and hence 
did not contribute much to the growth of the village. 
About 1794, Joel Cranston* came to .the place, and 
being a man of energy and public spirit, he opened a 
store, kept a public house, and a few years later, started 
quite a number of mechanical branches of industry, viz. 
cloth-dressing, blacksmithing, tanning, carding of wool, 
&c. He afterward became a farmer and manufacturer, 
and was the principal agent in building up Rock Bottom. 
Silas Feltonf came to the place in 1799, and went into 
partnership in the store with Joel Cranston, and con- 
tinued in trade to the close of his life in 1828. Cranston 
and Felton were not only useful men in the village, but 
were highly respected generally, and filled many of the 

* Cranston. —The early history of this family is meagre. Samuel Cranston, the 
grand -father of Joel, came to this country, and probably settled in the western part 
of the colony. He came to Marlborough about 1728. He had a family of six 
children. Amasa, his fourth child, married Mary Hathorn ; they were the parents 
of Joel. Amasa served in the French, and in the Revolutionary war, where he rose 
to the rank of Major. Joel, born in 1763, married, 1784, Lucretia Eager. They 
had no issue. 

t Silas Felton, born 1776, was son of Stephen, born 1752, and grand-son of 
Jacob, born 1712, who married, first, Sarah Barrett, and second, Hezadiah Howe. 
He was son of Samuel, who married, 1709, Sarah Goodale, and had nine children. 
Samuel was son of John and grand-son of Nathaniel, the original emigrant, who was 
in Salem 1633. j^acod Felton came to Marlborough about 1728. He died, aged 
77, and his last wife died aged 93 years and li months. The Feltons were numerous 
and respectable, and by marriage were connected with most of the prominent families. 
Silas married Lucretia Fay, and had two daughters, both of whom were married in 
the village. 



38 

most important offices in the town. Their enterprise 
and popularity invited people to the place ; and, in 
the space of a few years, several important families 
came to the village : — Mr. George Peters, the ring of 
whose anvil would awaken the village from their slum- 
bers ; Captain Jedediah Wood, who would card the 
wool for spinning, and dress the cloth when the rolls 
were converted into a fabric ; Stephen Pope, who could 
convert the hides, into leather, and his father, Folger, in 
whose hands the leather would become a saddle or a 
harness. These men came to the village about 1800. 
Nor were these the only acquisitions. About this time 
Ebenezer Witt, long known as the " honest miller," 
came to the village, where he spent his days, which 
were closed in 1840, in his 85th year. 

Of the families which setded in the vrllage about this 
period, Geoi^ge Peters probably came from Medfield. 
He married Lydia Maynard, and had George, Ephraim, 
Luther, Adolphus, and John H. — yedediah Wood was 
son of Peter Wood, who came from Concord to Marl- 
borough, and was a descendant of the third generation 
from William, the original emigrant. Jedediah married 
Betsey Wilkins, and was father of Colonel William H., 
Elbridge and Alonzo. — The Popes were from Salem, 
and for a time owned the principal land in the village ; 
the family have been prominent in the place. — Ebenezer 
Witt was a descendant of John Witt, who came to 
Marlborough in 1707. Ebenezer was son of Josiah and 
grandson of Samuel, who represented Marlborough 
twenty-three years in the General Court. Ebenezer 
Witt had one son and three daughters, all of whom 
married in the town. About 1800, Phineas Sawyer 
came to the place, and bought the saw mill and grist 
mill. He was a man of character and enterprise, and 
about 1 8 10 he built a small cotton factory, the first and 



39 

only one in the town and vicinity. Mr. Sawyer being a 
Methodist by profession, was the first who introduced 
Methodist preaching into the place. He came to a sad 
end. The water-wheel at his mill being obstructed by 
ice, he went upon it to cut the ice away, when the 
wheel started and carried him into the water ; where, 
confined by the wheel, he was soon drowned. 

These setdements would naturally promote the busi- 
ness of the place, and not only increase the population 
of the village itself, but would induce farmers to setde 
around. Love well Brigham, Ivory Brigham, Stephen 
Rice, Daniel Stevens, and others, located themselves 
within the circuit of a mile of the village. Efforts were 
made to build up the place. The factory employed but 
a few hands, and produced only yarn. Some little 
weaving was done in families ; and Cranston, Felton, 
and Hale, employed two or three young women to 
weave satinet, a fabric of cotton and wool, used exten- 
sively at that time for pantaloons. Another enterprise 
of the same parties, was the introduction of a distillery 
for the manufacture of cider brandy. During the war 
of 1812, spirits of all kinds were high, and Marlborough, 
famous for its apple orchards, had at that time an 
unusual quantity of fruit, and had established in the 
centre of the town two distilleries ; but it was found 
that their utmost ability, running night and day, could 
not consume the cider that was brought in. This 
induced Felton and Company to establish another dis- 
tillery. They gave out word that they would have vats 
of sufficient number and capacity to receive the cider as 
fast as it came ; and by running their still night and day, 
and by transferring to casks the first run of the still, 
without raising it to the desired proof, they would so 
clear their vats as to empty all barrels as soon as they 
were brought: but a few days' experience convinced 



40 

them of their mistake ; for the cider was brought in 
such quantities, that with all their large vats, their yard, 
after the first ten days, showed an accumulation of hun- 
dreds of barrels, waiting for their turn to be discharged. 
Some idea of the quantity of cider may be formed from 
the fact that the distillers allowed but sixty-two cents 
per barrel, and paid with goods from their stores. 

With all the effort to increase the growth of the 
village, it remained nearly stationary for a considerable 
period. One cause which retarded its growth, was the 
fact that land in the village for building could not be 
obtained. In 1802, Folger Pope, then of Salem, bought 
of John Peck of Newton, one hundred acres of land, 
which was the foundation of the Pope estate in the 
place ; it covered almost the entire village of the " mills." 
And though Mr. Pope introduced tanning and saddlery 
into the village, he adopted a policy somewhat common 
at that day, to hold on to his land ; thinking it better to 
have a largfe farm than a orrowinQf villao-e. This unwill- 
inofness to sell, even enouofh for a house lot, checked 
the growth of the place for years, — a misfortune which 
many towns have experienced from the same cause. 

Nothing worthy of note occurred in the village until 
the introduction of manufactures, of which we shall speak 
hereafter. The subject we wish to present now, is the 
desire of the people to be erected into a township. 
We have shown that the part of Marlborough, known 
as the " Mills," or " Feltonville," has some associations, 
events, or elements, which will form a basis of character, 
and that she does not rely simply upon her ten years' 
corporate existence for her history. So far as indi- 
vidual character and enterprise are concerned, she had 
displayed her full share of stability. Being situated 
more than three miles from the centre of Marlborouo-h, 
and having stores, schools, churches, a post-office, and 



41 

air other conveniences which constitute a town, except 
municipal privileges, it was natural for the citizens of 
Feltonville to desire corporate powers, so that they 
could do their own public business in their own way. 
There were also a number of families residing within 
the township of Bolton, whose territory approached 
within a hundred rods of the village of Feltonville, and 
who were four miles from the centre of Bolton : these 
families were desirous of acting with the people in the 
village, and becoming a part of a new town. 

A meeting was held on the third of May, i865, 
to take into consideration the forming of a new town. 
Captain Francis Brigham was called to the chair, and 
Silas H. Stuart was chosen Secretary. Resolutions 
were passed, expressing their belief that their interest 
would be promoted by becoming a corporate munici- 
pality, and recommending that a petition be presented 
to the General Court, to be set off from their respective 
organizations, and be made a town. A committee of 
nine was chosen to report upon the boundary of the 
proposed town. This committee consisted of Francis 
Brigham, George Houghton, E. M. Stowe, S. H. Stuart, 
and J. T. Joslin of Marlborough, Albert Goodrich, Caleb 
E. Nurse, and J. P. Nurse of Bolton, and Ira H. Brown 
of Berlin. This committee recommended a line which 
was substantially adopted, and agreed to by the parties, 
so far as it related to Marlborough. 

At a meeting of the citizens at Union Hall, June 13, 
1 865, it was voted to alter the line near the house of 
Daniel Stratton, so as to take in a corner of Stow, 
and to appoint a committee of five, to make all the 
necessary arrangements for the purpose of incorporating 
the new town, — and Francis Brigham, James T. Joslin, 
George Houghton, Daniel Stratton, and Ira H. Brown 



42 

were appointed. At a meeting held September '27, 
it was decided that the contemplated town should 
be called Hudson. It being recommended that the 
different parties should present their own separate 
petitions, George Houghton and 264 others, Lyman 
Perry and 7 others, Daniel Stratton and 24 others, and 
Ira H. Brown and 7 others, sent in their petitions. 
Here is an aggregate of more than three hundred, 
stating different reasons why a new town should be 
created. But the town of Bolton, and the county of 
Worcester, by their counsel, Hon. G. F. Hoar, made a 
strenuous effort to defeat the petition, relying in a good_ 
degree upon the fact, that taking a parcel of land from 
Bolton, would require altering the county line, which 
could not be done constitutionally. This position was 
fully met and satisfactorily refuted by J. T. Joslin, Esq., 
counsel for the petitioners. But still, for reasons best 
known to themselves, the Legislature refused to include 
in the town they created, that portion of land lying 
within the limits of Bolton, though some portion of it 
was within a stone's throw of the village of Feltonville. 
The petitioners, knowing that this territory, situated 
in the immediate neighborhood of Feltonville, and at 
least three miles from the centre of Bolton, must affili- 
ate with the village where the property was owned, and 
where the population did business or found employment, 
consented to take a bill without the Bolton section, 
believing that that would ultimately come by the force 
of gravity. 

The act was passed March 19, 1866, creating the 
town of Hudson, giving it a boundary, not very intelli- 
gible, I confess, as follows : " Beginning at the westerly 
corner of the territory, at a stone monument on the 
dividing line between said territory and the town of 
Berlin, in the county of Worcester ; thence southeast- 



43 

erly, angling twice, as said dividing line now runs, 
ninety-seven and sixty-eight one hundredths rods to a 
stone monument standing on the southeasterly side of 
the road leading from Feltonville, so called, to North- 
borough ; thence in an easterly direction in a straight 
line across the entire territory of said Marlborough, to 
a stone monument on the dividing line between said 
Marlborough and Sudbury, standing on the southerly 
side of the Sudbury road, near the house of Albion 
Parmenter, and about two hundred and fifty-one rods 
south of the Stow line ; thence in a northerly direction 
on the present dividing line between said territory and 
said Sudbury, to a stone monument at the northeasterly 
corner of said territory, and at the Stow line ; thence 
in a northeasterly direction, as the present dividing line 
between said territory and the said town of Stow now 
runs, to a stone monument near the house of Abijah 
Wolcott ; thence in a direct continuation north, fifty-four 
degrees west, across a corner of said town of Stow, to 
a point on the county line between said Stow and 
Bolton ; thence in a southerly and southwesterly direc- 
tion, as the county line between the counties of Middle- 
sex and Worcester now runs, to the first mentioned 
bound." 

Tills act being acceptable to the citizens of Hudson, 
they proceeded, according to its requirements, to organ- 
ize themselves as a town. James T. Joslin, Esq., in 
virtue of a warrant issued by Charles H. Robinson, Esq., 
notified and warned the legal voters of the new town 
to assemble at Union Hall, in said town, on Saturday, 
the thirty-first day of March, 1866, at nine o'clock in 
the forenoon, to organize by the choice of the necessary 
town officers. Pursuant to the warrant the citizens 
assembled, and in recognition of the ruling providence 
of God, on motion of David B. Goodale, Rev. H. C. 



44 

Dugan addressed the throne of grace, and implored 
the Divine blessing upon the infant town. 

The citizens then proceeded to business, and chose 
Georp-e S. Rawson, Moderator, and Silas H. Stuart, 
Taivn Clerk, for the ensuing year. They further organ- 
ized by choosing the following town officers : — Charles 
H. Robinson, George Houghton, Wm. F. Trowbridge, 
Selectmen; Alonzo Wood, George Stratton, Lyman 
Perry, Assessors; Augustus K. Graves, Luman T. Jefts, 
John A. Howe, Overseers of the Poor; Hiram C. 
Dugan, George S. Rawson, David B. Goodale, School 
Committee; Wm. L. Witham, Constable, and George L. 
Manson, Treasurer. 

At a meeting legally called, April i6, 1866, George 
S. Rawson was chosen Moderator. 

The remaining town offices were filled. The follow- 
ing appropriations were made : — 

For Schools, . . . . . . $3,000 

For Roads and Bridges, .... 800 

For Contingent Expenses, .... 2,000 

Voted to add to the appropriation made, . 5,200 

$ 1 1 ,000 

They also voted to pay their fire-engine men five 
dollars each. They chose James T. Joslin, Esq., Joseph 
S. Bradley, and Charles Brigham, a Committee to lay 
out and dispose of the lots in the Cemetery. 

Francis Brigham, James T. Joslin, and George 
Houghton, were made a Committee to communi-^ 
cate to Charles Hudson the fact that the name of 
Hudson was given to the town as a mark of respect 
to him. At the same meeting a list of Jurors was 
presented by the Selectmen, and accepted by the town, 
as follows : — 



45 

Francis D. Brigham. Joseph S. Bradley. 

Benjamin Dearborn. Silas B. Fairbanks. 

David B. Goodale. Nahum A. Gay. 

Alden B. Gleason.. Augustus K. Graves. 

Dana Howe. Willard Houghton. 

Luman T. Jefts. Lyman Perry. 

George S. Rawson. George Stratton. 

Edmund M. Stowe. Alonzo Wood. 

James B. Whitney. George D. Witt. 

George O. Bradley. Charles S. Buss. 

W. H. Chamberlain. Reuben Hapgood. 

Horatio H. Hutchin.s. Silas E. Priest. 

Alden A. Tarbell. James S. Welch. 

Theodore Wilkins. John L. Jewell. 

Baxter F. Wheeler. Elbridge G. Lewis. 

We have given the names of the town officers, that 
those who come after us may know to whom they are 
indebted for the institutions which they have found built 
up for their enjoyment ; and this hst of jurors furnishes 
thirty men, deemed by their neighbors men of good 
character and sound judgment, and well qualified to 
weigh evidence and pass an intelligent decision upon 
the cases which come before our Courts. 

The citizens of Hudson have not only shown by their 
thrift, that they have been stirring as business men, but 
their public records show that they have been active as 
townsmen, in preparing every thing for a prosperous 
municipal corporation. They directed their Selectmen 
to look well to the cess-pools, and abate all nuisances, 
and especially liquor nuisances. Their public officers 
were requested to consider the subject of supporting 
'their paupers, and in a true Christian spirit were 
directed to furnish and erect suitable head-stones at 
the graves of their paupers, and those unable to supply 
them. The subject of a new school-house was duly 
considered ; but the extension of their highways and 
townways appears to have engrossed a larger share of 



46 

attention ; and we venture to say that few, very few, 
towns in the Commonwealth, have done as much in so 
brief a period, as the town of Hudson, to increase and 
improve their roads. 

We have already stated that a committee was 
appointed to inform Charles Hudson that the new town 
was named Hudson, as a compliment to him. This 
committee, at a town meeting in 1867, reported that 
they had conveyed the information of this fact to Mr. 
Hudson, and that they had received a long and satis- 
factory letter from that gentleman, in which he speaks 
approvingly of the enterprise of the town, and especi- 
ally of the value of a free public library, and concludes 
with this proposition : — 

" If the town of Hudson, at a legal meeting called 
for that purpose, vote to establish a free town library 
for the use of all the inhabitants of the town, and shall 
appropriate or otherwise secure the sum of five hundred 
dollars, to be devoted to that object, they may call upon 
me, my executors or administrators, for the like sum of 
five hundred dollars, to be expended in furtherance of 
that object." 

The committee recommended the acceptance of the 
proposition, and the town accordingly voted the sum 
mentioned, and then made choice of Messrs. James T. 
Joslin, David B. Goodale, and Luman T. Jefts, as a 
committee to select the books, and adopt all such 
measures as they might deem necessary to carry forward 
the enterprise. With a thousand dollars, and some 
other liberal donations, they were able to open a library 
in 1867, and with the additions that have been made, 
they have now a well selected library of about 2,300 
volumes ; and the liberal appropriations made by 
the town give assurance of a continued interest felt in 
this institution, — important in every community, but 



47 

especially valuable in a manufacturing town, where the 
operatives have time to read, and generally a mind 
to improve it. 

But the people were not only mindful of the living, 
but of the dead. At a meeting in April, 1866, James 
T. Joslin, Esq., Joseph S. Bradley, and Charles Brigham, 
were chosen a committee to lay out and dispose of the 
lots in the cemetery, and all money received was to 
be devoted to the improvement of the grounds. The 
place is pleasantly located, and the soil and surface 
are admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is 
designed. It contains six acres, and is handsomely laid 
out and the avenues are well graded. Most of the 
monumental stones are of marble, tastefully wrought. 
Any visitor will be struck by the seeming equality 
which characterizes the spot. The graveyard is no 
place for aristocratic display, and a community which 
furnishes headstones for their paupers, will, we presume, 
preserve a modest simplicity in their cemetery. It is 
in good taste now, and m^ay it so continue. 

A subject which engaged the attention of the citizens 
more than any other, was the need of acquiring a 
portion of land from Bolton. This arose not merely 
from an ambition to enlarge their borders, but from 
the fact that the territory desired, approached so near 
the village as to prevent its natural expansion. And 
besides, this Bolton territory furnished some of the best 
building land near the village of Hudson ; people 
doing business there were unwilling to fix their resi- 
ence in another town and county, and thus be cut off 
in all municipal affairs from their associates. It was 
in fact needed for the public benefit, and hence it 
was eagerly sought. The people residing there also, 
were anxious that it should become a part of Hudson. 
And Bolton, a purely agricultural town, began to 



48 

suspect that a hundred voters engaged in manufactures, 
and livine at least three miles from the centre of their 
town, might become a troublesome element in their 
municipal affairs— and it might be wise to let them go. 
Consequendy, they expressed a willingness to make 
some arrangement with Hudson, and sell out upon 
the best terms they could. The latter place, standing 
ready at all times to open negotiations on the subject, 
appointed Francis Brigham, Joseph S. Bradley, George 
Houghton, James T. Joslin, and A. K. Graves a com- 
mittee, with certain individuals residing on the territory, 
to meet and make such an arrangement with the rep- 
resentatives of Bolton, as they might deem for the benefit 
the town. After full deliberation, it was agreed that 
" The question of where the proposed line in contem- 
plation of a division of the town of Bolton, shall be 
established between said town of Bolton and the said 
town of Hudson, the terms on which the division of 
said town of Bolton and the annexation of a part 
thereof to said town of Hudson, shall be consummated," 
shall be referred to three competent and disinterested 
persons, without the limits of the counties of Middlesex 
and Worcester ; and Hon. James D. Colt of Pittsfield, 
Hon. George P. Sanger of Boston, and Hon. Josiah 
G. Abbott of Boston, were agreed upon as referees. 

After visiting the premises, hearing the parties, and 
duly considering the subject, the arbitrators decided 
upon the dividing line, and after stating divers details, 
such as naturally present themselves in the division of 
towns, they provided that Bolton, upon the request of 
the town of Hudson, shall convey by sufficient deed, 
the said lot of land with its appurtenances to the town 
of Hudson. And that the town of Hudson shall pay 
to the town of Bolton, within three months from the 
passage of any act by the Legislature establishing the » 



49 

said dividing line,* as the boundary between the towns 
of Bolton and Hudson, and annexing the territory 
within said hne to the town of Hudson, the sum of 
ten thousand dollars, with interest from the twentieth 
day of February, 1868." This award, with the draft 
of an Act confirming the same, was submitted to the 
Legislature, and the Act was passed without oppo- 
sition. 

Thus ended the controversy between the two towns, 
and though the mode of setdement was a novel one, 
we are inclined to the belief that it was beneficial to 
both parties ; it left Bolton with a good boundary line, 
and forever relieved her from an evil which she must 
have one day felt, — of a population uncongenial with 
he.r ov\/n, — and the ten thousand dollars would pay her 
for any loss of property which she sustained. And as 
to Hudson, the taxable property brought into the town, 
and the inducement which this arrangement offers to 
the inhabitants of the village, and others who are seek- 
ing a country residence, to settle upon this territory, 
will in the end more than reimburse any expense 
which may have been incurred. Besides, this acquisi- 
tion gready improves the shape of the town, and 
practically makes the village and places of business 
somewhat central, which, before this, were upon the 
very borders. On the whole, the citizens of Hudson 
have been very fortunate in their efforts for incorpora- 

* This dividing line is as follows: "Beginning at a stone monument on the 
present boundary line between the counties of Worcester and Middlesex, at the south- 
westerly corner of the town of Stow, and at the northerly corner of the town of 
Hudson, thence running south eighty-six degrees west four hundred thirty-eight and 
twenty one hundredths rods to a stone monument at an angle ; thence south sixty-six 
and one -half degrees west, three hundred and forty -six rods to the present diviiling 
line between the said town of Bolton and the town of Berlin, in the county of Wor- 
cester ; thence south fifty and one-fourth degrees east four hundred and fifty-seven 
rods along the said dividing line between Bolton and Berlin to the present line of the 
town of Hudson. 
7 



50 

tion. While many communities which have aspired at 
a separate existence have struggled long, and when 
they have succeeded, have come out of great tribulation, 
the good people of Feltonville were able to obtain the 
consent of the parent town," and subsequendy so to 
arrange matters with Bolton, as to live in peace and 
harmony, And we think that great credit is due to all 
parties concerned, for the kind and accommodating 
manner in which they have met this subject. 

After having laid out and constructed roads, provided 
for the schools, and whatever else was deemed neces- 
sary for the public prosperity, in 1871 it was decided 
to build a Town Hall, the cost of which should not 
exceed $35,000, exclusive of the site, and Edmund 
M. Stowe, Francis Brigham, George Houghton, L. T. 
Jefts, and C. H. Robinson, were chosen a committee 
to carry the vote into effect. A plan was submitted 
and adopted, which will show the character of the 
house. The design represents a brick building about 
55 by 97 feet on the ground, with a vestibule 17 by 
34 feet. The elevation is two stories, with a French 
roof and tower ; granite underpinning, granite key- 
stones at the top of arched windows, granite steps at 
each entrance, and a granite belt inserted in the outside 
wall between the first and second story, extending 
entirely around the building. The lower story is 12 

* We have before mentioned the good feeling always existing between the different 
parts of Marlborough, and the fact that its citizens offered Httle or no opposition to 
the wishes of the northern portion in establishing a separate municipality. If any 
further evidence were necessary to show the readiness of Marlborough to recognize 
the rights and respect the feelings of the citizens of what is now Hudson, the fact 
might be mentioned, that when the town, in 1862, celebrated her bi-centennial, 
David B. Goodale, George E. Manson, and Charles Brigham were put upon the 
Committee of Arrangements; and when a list of the officers for the day was agreed 
upon. Col. William H. Wood was selected as Chief Marshal, with Capt. Francis 
Brigham as his assistant, and Stephen Pope, Ezekiel Bruce, Jabez Rice, and John 
Goodale were among the Vice-Presidents. This was a just recognition of the 
standing of the men from the northern part of old Marlborough. 



4l 
I 




THE TOWN HALL, HUDSON, MASS. 



From a Photograph by 
RUSSELL B LEWIS, Hudsor 



Architect, 
S. S. WOODCOCK, Boston. 



51 

feet in height inside, when finished, and contains a 
number of rooms designed for various uses of the town, 
also a large fire-proof safe, and four cells or lock-ups. 
The second story is 22 feet in height, when finished, 
and contains the main hall, with gallery, stage, &c. 
Above this story are a number of rooms, enclosed 
within the French roof. 

The committee were subsequently authorized to 
employ such means for heating the building, and to 
furnish the same in such a manner as in their judgment 
the case might demand ; and they were instructed to 
cause the building to be properly fitted up with gas 
pipes and all necessary plumbing apparatus. 

The Town Hall having been completed, was publicly 
dedicated, September 26, 1872. The building is well 
located, most thoroughly finished, and makes a fine and 
imposing appearance. It is a substantial, and at the 
same time a beautiful structure, and admirably adapted 
to the purposes for which it was erected. But few 
towns in the county can boast a town hall as orna- 
mental and as convenient as this. It cost, with its 
furniture, $48,531 ; the site and the grading cost 
110,000, making a total cost of $58,530. It is situated 
in the immediate neio-hborhood of three handsome 
churches, and taken together they present quite a city- 
like appearance. 

The people residing in that part of Marlborough 
which is now the village of Hudson, early manifested a 
deep interest in the subject of education. When citizens 
of Marlborough, they urged the matter of better ac- 
commodation for their children, there being but one 
school house on the territory under consideration, and 
that, (near Amos Ray's,) was nearly two miles from 
the " mills," as the village was then called. And what 
made it still worse, was the fact that there was no open. 



52 

direct road to the school house. This inconvenience 
was so seriously felt, that some of the families employed 
a private teacher. But after a struggle of several years, 
they succeeded, in 1812, in being made a new and 
additional district, and a school house was erected on 
the road leading to the centre of the town, about a 
hundred rods south of the river. Such was the opposi- 
tion to this measure, that it was openly declared that at 
the adjournment of the meeting, the vote to build the 
school house should be rescinded. But such was the 
zeal of the citizens in the village, that trees standing in 
the forest when the vote was passed, were standing in a 
frame house, covered with boards, clapboards and 
shingles, before the day to which the meeting had been 
adjourned. Marlborough was for a time rather behind 
her sister towns in her appropriations for schools, but 
about i85o a new interest was awakened, and several 
new school houses were erected. The appropriation in 
i856 was but $2,220; in i860 it was increased to 
$3,910, and a high school had also been established, not 
only in the centre, but at Feltonville. About i855, 
the house built in 18 12 was abandoned, and a larger 
and better one erected on School street, near the river; 
and here the Feltonville high school was kept till after 
the town was incorporated. 

Since that time Hudson has not been unmindful 
of the cause of education. The citizens have built 
one school house in the westerly part of the town, one 
in the easterly part, and one on the road leading from 
the depot to Marlborough. But perhaps the most 
important, and certainly the most expensive edifice, was 
one erected in 1867 for the High School, which cost 
between five and six thousand dollars. The appropri- 
ations for the schools have always been liberal. There 
is, perhaps, no surer index of the intelligence, culture, 



53 

and prosperity of any town, than the interest manifested 
in its pubHc schools.* There may be a few famihes 
actuated by a false pride, who will maintain a select 
school for the education of their children, where there 
is litde or no interest felt in the community at large. 
But where the people generally, the voters in any town, 
come forward year after year, and consent to be taxed 
for the support of schools, where the rich and the poor 
can send their children to obtain that instruction which 
will fit them for future usefulness, we may safely infer 
that the value of free schools is jusdy appreciated. 

The town of Hudson can present a good record in 
this respect. With a population of some nineteen 
hundred inhabitants, at their first meeting after they 
were incorporated, they appropriated S3.000 for the 
support of education. We have already seen that in 
the short space of a single decade, they have built four 
good school houses, which would seem to indicate that 
they had an interest in the welfare of their children. 
But they have shown that they do not trust to houses 
alone for the diffusion of knowledge. They have been 
sensible that money forms not only the sinews of v/ar, 
but the support of moral and intellectual instruction. 
And hence they have raised their appropriation for 
schools from 13,000 in 1866 to |5,ooo in 1870, and 
$6,300 in 1876. They have also endeavored to improve 
the qualifications of their instructors, as is indicated by 
the increase of the pay of the high school teacher from 
$800 to $1,200, and the teachers in the district schools in 
the same proportion. Such facts reflect the intelligence 
of the people, and give assurance that their children 
will rise up and call them blessed. 

As temporal and moral welfare are more or less 
blended, and the safety of life and property are ind- 
mately connected, it cannot be amiss to state the efforts 



54 

which have been directed to the protection of both 
against the devouring element Which, within a few 
years, has desolated some of the principal cities in our 
country. Hudson has a full and perfectly organized 
Fire Department, — three engineers, one full and com- 
plete company, and an engine equal to any in the com- 
munity. The shoe and other manufactures employing 
a large* number of hands, the engine company is not 
composed of young boys or feeble individuals, but of 
active, stalwart men, whose power and skill at the 
brakes have been admitted in well-contested fields. 
They have another, an impromptu company, which is 
ready ^and can do good service in the village. The box 
manufacturing company have a force pump and hose, 
and Brigham & Company also have a force pump driven 
by water, and Houghton one by steam. These pumps 
have great power, and considering their location, can do 
a ereat deal towards checkino^ or extincruishino- a fire, 
should one break out. There is also a good Hook 
and Ladder company connected with the Department. 

And while they strive to save property from the 
flames, the citizens have furnished means of saving the 
earnings of honest toil from dangers as great and more 
insidious than flaming fire. They have a well regu- 
lated Savings Bank, with an aggregate deposit of about 
$2 5 0,000. 

Though Hudson may be regarded as a good agri- 
cultural town, and many of her farms are rich and fer- 
tile, she is more distinguished for the production of 
her workshops than the fruits of her soil. The shoe 
manufacture is the business that has built up the 
place and given her a distinctive character. Nowhere 
in the State is the shoe trade carried on more 
systematically, or is so great a per cent, of modern 
improved machinery to be found as in Hudson. Other, 



55 

and older, and larger towns, have more machinery, 
it may be, and some as modern and improved as that 
of Hudson, but being longer in business they still 
have some of their old machinery in use, and adhere to 
their old habits, so that they naturally have both old 
and new intermingled. But in Hudson, tlie intro- 
duction of the business being recent, their shops and 
their machinery are all of the most approved character. 
The shops are of modern construction, two and three 
stories, high studded, a wide hall extending the length 
of the building, with large rooms or halls upon each 
side, well lighted and ventilated, and heated with steam. 
As these buildings are separate and isolated, the best 
light and air can be enjoyed, and they are comparatively 
safe from fire in consequence of their position, and the 
hose and other appliances which they possess. The 
reputation of the Hudson shoe factories was such that 
when the Japanese Embassy visited this country, and the 
Boston merchants and manufacturers intended to show 
them the best specimens of our productions, after taking 
them to Lowell and Lawrence, to exhibit the facility of 
weaving cloth, they conducted their guests to Hudson, 
to show them the best system of making shoes. 

We have no disposition to attempt even a brief des- 
cription of the methods employed. Suffice it to say that 
there is a great division of labor. The heels, the soles, 
and the uppers, the sewing, the pegging, the buffing, 
and the polishing, are all separate processes, and are 
performed by different hands ; other parts of the busi- 
ness require appliances of labor or machinery. Skill and 
economy are observed in cutting, which is done by dies, 
and as shoes are made for women, misses, and chil- 
dren, a piece of leather not laj-ge enough for a woman's, 
may answer for a miss, and what is too small for her 
may answer for a child, and what cannot be cut into a 



56 

shoe, may be sent into another department, to be manu- 
factured into heels, where the same assortment of sizes 
takes place. There is also in the village a striking 
illustration of the principle that one thing calls for 
another. Shoes are made upon lasis, and hence a 
factory is established, which turns out fifty thousand 
lasts annually. And as the heels and the leather gener- 
ally are cut by dies, these articles are in demand, and 
hence an establishment for their manufacture has been 
set up, with sales to the amount of $75,000 in the 
year. The lasts and the dies here produced are not 
all consumed in the place, but the domestic demand 
undoubtedly gave birth to the manufacture. Then the 
shoes, when prepared for the market, must be boxed 
up, and this calls for a box factory, and one is found in 
the village, demanding not only laborers, but requiring 
lumber and all the appliances of the lumber business. 
The annual product of the factory is $18,000. The 
tannery in the village is almost a branch of the shoe 
trade, and they all combine to aid one another. 

In speaking of the thrift and employments of the 
place, we ought to mention a large piano factory, which 
was established and well under way, when it fell a prey 
to the devouring element. But the enterprising pro- 
prietors are preparing to continue the business, not- 
withstandinof the fire. 

The ordinary mechanics, — the carpenter and the 
mason, the painter and the plumber, — find their busi- 
ness^ affected directly by the growth of manufactures, 
• » and the tillers of the soil participate in the same pros- 
perity. Land within miles of the village would rise or 
fall in value, as the shoe business was prosperous or 
depressed. The effect of these various branches of 
trade will be seen, when we consider that in 1820,. there 
were only thirteen or fourteen- dwelling houses and one 



57 

store in the place. The only thing that sustained the 
village at that period was its water power, driving a 
grist and saw mill, a cloth dressing establishment and a 
small cotton factory. Now, the dwellings there are 
about four hundred, and instead of a single English 
and West India goods store, there are now six such 
stores ; there are also five provision stores, two 
shoe stores, three dressmakers and milliners' shops, 
two tailors' shops, two grain and flour stores, one 
jeweller's shop, two apothecary and druggist stores, 
one hardware store, two tinmen's shops, where stoves, 
pumps, &c., are found, one paint and oil store, two 
machine shops, two dealers in wood and coal, one 
lumber yard, three paint shops, two box factories, one 
photographer's gallery, one toy shop, one book and toy 
store, one post-office, with a newspaper and stationery 
shop attached, three livery stables, one hotel, three 
eating houses, one printing office, one bakery, and three 
custom shoemakers' shops. There are also several 
professional men and mechanics, who have places of 
business or residence, which should be mentioned, to 
show the accommodation and resources of the village. 
Three physicians, two dentists, one veterinary surgeon, 
two lawyers' offices, one plumber, three barbers, two 
master masons or contractors, three insurance agencies 
and conveyancers, one ice-house and dealer, three green 
houses, with vegetables and flowers for sale. 

The population, when the town was incorporated in 
1866, was about 1,800; in iSyS it was 3493- It is 
true that this increase of population was aided by the 
acquisition from Bolton ; but this Bolton population was 
the product of the Hudson manufactories. In May, 
1875, the number of polls in Hudson was 930; the 
personal property was valued at $280,413, and the real 
8 



58 

estate at $1,464,865, making a grand total of 11,745,278. 
The number of dwelling houses at that time was 61 5. 

Although the earth may yield her increase, and the 
ordinary mechanical industry may add to the wealth 
and advance the prosperity of the place, yet it must 
be confessed, that manufacturing, and that of shoes in 
particular, must be regarded as the life blood of the 
village, which circulates through the whole system, 
and warms and invigorates every member. But the 
present is an unfortunate time to show the product 
of the shops. The depression of business in every 
department of industry, falls heavily upon the shoe 
manufacture, and consequently reduces the product and 
the number of hands, and so lessens the amount paid 
out monthly to the laborers. But, even as it is, the 
show is very flattering. 

The capital employed in the five principal factories, 
viz : Francis Brigham & Go's., Wm. F. Trowbridge's, 
George Houghton's, Luman T. Jefts, and Stowe, Bills 
& Whitney's, is $410,000, and the annual production of 
shoes is i,7i5,ooo pairs, the estimated value of sales is 
11,41 5,000 ; giving employment to 1,000 persons, 3i5 
of whom are females. The united pay of the laborers 
is $320,000 a year, or $26,666 a month. The effect 
upon any country village of having twenty-six thousand 
dollars distributed monthly, can easily be conceived, as 
it is well known that the sums thus paid out, by passing 
from hand to hand, will pay a large number of debts, or 
procure many necessaries and luxuries of life, and thus 
produce a state of general prosperity. So much for the 
shoe business alone. But there are other branches of 
manufacture connected with or dependent upon the 
shoe manufacture, which should be taken into the 
account. The tannery, the die factory, the last factory, 
and the box factory, furnish a capital of more than 



59 

|iio,ooo, and employ some 120 hands, whose monthly 
pay would be some $6,000 ; so that the present 
depressed state of business, actually taken in the 
aggregate, ensures a payment for labor of about $33,000 
dollars per month. 

One pleasant feature of this prosperity is, that it is 
produced by the industry of the village. In many 
instances where a manufacturing village grows up 
rapidly, it is the effect of combined foreign capital. 
This in fact was true of Lowell and Lawrence. But in 
the case of Hudson, there was no such foreign aid. 
No combined capital from abroad, — no rich individual 
outside the town, has built up the place. On the 
contrary, the money here invested is village capital, 
earned by labor and toil performed mostly in the village 
itself. And it is a fact, that the principal owners of 
these large establishments, and the men who have done 
most to build up the place, have commenced life without 
means, and owe their success to their own efforts. This 
is especially true of Francis Brigham, the largest capi- 
talist in the place, who first started the shoe manufac- 
ture in the village, and has contributed so largely to the 
growth of Hudson. This fact produces a better state 
of things than would be likely to exist, if one over- 
grown capitalist, or a foreign corporation, owned the 
property and controlled the destiny of the town. 

But though Hudson has been actively engaged in 
worldly affairs, and has spent her money freely to 
promote temporal prosperity, she has not been unmind- 
ful of her moral and spiritual interests. From the first, 
the cause of temperance and good order has engaged 
the attention of the inhabitants, and it is believed that 
there is less of dissipation and disorder here than in 
most manufacturing villages. That restlessness and 
insubordination, — that jealousy of the success and 



6o 

hatred of capital, and those disgraceful strikes 'which 
have converted some manufacturing towns into a 
bedlam, have not disturbed the peace of Hudson, 
or created a hostility between the employers and 
employed. 

Nor has their religious interest been neglected. 
Long before they aspired to be a town, religious socie- 
ties were formed, and preaching to a certain extent 
was maintained ; and, a catholic spirit prevailing, the 
village enjoyed a stated ministry long before any one 
sect would have been able to build a church, or support 
a minister. The first house of worship was possessed 
by the Baptists, who have maintained regular preaching 
for some twenty years. Their edifice was rather small, 
though neat and convenient ; but in accordance with 
the spirit of the age, the parish desired something 
more elegant and tasteful, and have just erected a 
house about one hundred feet by fifty, having two 
towers, and estimated to cost $16,000. The Unitarians 
have a neat, commodious house, built about 1861. The 
Methodists have a handsome church, but a short 
distance from the others, although, being on the 
southerly side of the main street, it is on lower 
ground, and hence is not quite as pleasantly located. 
They are all situated in the immediate neighborhood 
of each other, giving a significant indication, that as 
they all hope to enjoy one peaceful rest in another 
world, they are willing to approximate each other on 
earth ; and to their honor be it said, they manifest 
a liberal spirit, and are disposed to treat each other as 
brethren. These societies are supplied with regular 
religious instruction, and may be said to be in a pros- 
perous condition. But we must not omit the Roman 
Catholic or Saint Michael's Church. It was organized 
by Father M. T. MacGuire in 1869. Their house, 



6i 

though not in the group of the other churches, is a 
handsome building, situated on the hill, where it over- 
looks the others. They all dwell together in har- 
mony. 

The newspaper press doubtless exerts a considerable 
influence everywhere for good or evil on public opinion. 
It is obvious that local country papers cannot secure the 
circulation and support, and hence cannot command 
the talent, of the city journals, and consequently their 
influence will be less. Yet if the local press takes high 
and honorable ground, and avoids local scandal and 
mere party contests, it will furnish much intelligence, 
which will be pleasing and profitable to the commu- 
nity. Such a publication Hudson has enjoyed for a 
dozen years. In iSSg Mr. S. B. Pratt issued a paper 
in Marlborough, called the Mirror, which was liberally 
patronized in Feltonville ; but about 1864, having 
passed into different hands, it was given up. In the 
following year, Mr. C. A. Wood purchased the type 
and presses, and moved them to Hudson, where he 
started the " Hudson Pioneer." The pecuniary interest 
of the establishment has since that period changed 
hands several times, but the paper has remained, and 
is now in its twelfth volume. It is a neat sheet of eight 
columns, well printed, on good paper, and appears to be 
ably conducted. 

It is a striking fact that printing generally follows 
close upon civilization, and the first issues of the press 
are a pretty sure exponent of the wants and feelings of 
the people. The first printing press set up in New 
England, was at Cambridge in 1638, in almost imme- 
diate connection with Harvard College, and this was 
ninety years earlier than any press was established 
in Virginia ; and the first issues from this press at 
Cambridge are so suggestive of the popular sentiment 



62 

that I will state the first five issues in the order of 
their appearance : The Freeman's Oath, an Almanac, a 
Psalm Book, a Catechism, and a book of laws entitled 
A Body of Liberties. Here we have a portraiture of 
our Puritan Fathers — a kind of pictorial representa- 
tion of their thoughts and feelings, their manners and 
customs. Their Bibles, which they brought with them 
from England, were of course first read ; then The 
Freeman's Oath must be taken ; next the Almanac 
consulted to learn the signs of the times ; then they 
were prepared to join in a Psalm of praise, and to teach 
their children the Catechism, and after that they were 
prepared to study their Body of Liberties, and when 
they had learned their rights, they were ready to assert 
them in any presence, and to defend them at any 
hazard, whoever might be the aggressor. 

We have already practically given the boundaries of 
Hudson, so that nothing is wanting to fix the locality, 
but to say that it is situated in the northwestern corner 
of the county of Middlesex, and is about twenty-six 
miles from Boston, and about twelve miles from 
Concord. The natural features of the township are 
attractive. Situated in the valley of the Assabet, there 
are no rugged mountains on the one hand, or sunken 
swamps on the other. While the general surface is 
substantially level, there is that pleasing variety of 
gentle swells, which attract attention and give beauty to 
a landscape. Mount Assabet, near the village, rises on 
the south side of the river, directly opposite the princi- 
pal settlement, to the height of from one hundred to 
two hundred feet and, to use a military phrase, " com- 
mands " the whole village, and a large portion of that 
section of the town. This graceful swell of land is 
productive, and capable of cultivation to the very 
summit, and would afford elegant sites for those 



63 

magnificent mansions in which retired capitalists 
deHght to indulge. There are a number of these 
gradual elevations within a mile of the village, which 
would afford beautiful country seats. The roads 
are remarkably good, furnishing rural and inviting, 
drives in this and the neighboring towns. The railroad, 
passing through the centre, connects the village with 
Boston, Lowell, Concord and Cambridge on the east, 
and with Fitchburg, Brattleborough, Keene and Green- 
field on the west. There is also a railroad substantially 
completed to Lancaster, a distance of eight or ten miles, 
which will open another line of communication with the 
towns on the north. The Massachusetts Central Rail- 
road is located directly through the village, and if that 
should be completed, it would make Hudson a grand 
railroad centre ; and if the other towns on the line of 
this contemplated road, would show the same public 
spirit, and afford pecuniary aid in proportion to this 
young and liberal town, that line of communication 
would not long hang in doubt. 

The village of Hudson is not only well located, but 
is handsomely laid out. The streets are wide and well 
graded, and all adorned with trees blushing into youth- 
ful, leafy beauty. The streets are kept clean and unob- 
structed, and well lighted by night. There is nothing 
in the general plan or arrangement in the village to be 
regretted, except the neglect too common in laying 
out new towns, to reserve land in a suitable locality 
for a town common or a public park. But it is 
hoped that this omission will be supplied at no distant 
day. The convenience, beauty, and health of the place 
would be promoted by such a park, and the good sense 
and enterprise of the people will soon demand such a 
luxury, where the pent air of the work-shops can be 
exchanged for the fresh breezes of an open square. 



64 

One characteristic of the village must strike every 
visitor as one of its attractions. Though the dwellings 
are not remarkable for their size, or the splendor of 
their architecture, they are marked for neatness and 
good taste, and for that apparent equality which dispels 
the idea of master and servant. But what adds gready 
to the beauty and comfort of the place is, that the 
houses of recent erection, and this includes most of 
them, are placed at such a distance from the streets, as 
to give a handsome front yard and grass plat, which 
protects the house from the gaze and dust of the street. 
And these plats between the house and the front fence, 
are generally adorned by flowers and shrubbery, which, 
with the avenues of maples marking the side-walks, 
give to the street, the yard and the house, a cheerful, 
rural appearance which must impress every beholder. 

But leavinor the villag^e, there is no reason to be 
ashamed of Hudson as a township. Nearly the whole 
territory is capable of cultivation, and the township 
furnishes many excellent farms. The eastern part has 
a portion of light soil, but such lands are well adapted 
to grain, and with high culture will yield a good crop of 
corn, with less labor than is required on stronger and 
more rugged soils ; and when laid down in a good 
condition, will yield two or three fine crops of hay. 
Such land is well adapted to root crops and vegetable 
gardening, and a portion is desirable on every farm. 

The territory of Hudson is well watered by the 
Assabet river and its tributaries. It has also a 
considerable stream from Berlin, which flows into the 
mill-pond, and furnishes a good privilege for light work. 
There is another considerable stream from Bolton, bear- 
ing the old Indian name, of VVattaquadock, which unites 
with the Assabet at the lower end of the village, 
furnishing water for the tannery, and affording some 



65 

small privileges above. Fort Meadow brook, below 
the reservoir, traverses a large section of the town. 
These streams, with the other rivulets and rills which 
feed them, furnish all that is necessary for the common 
uses of agriculture, such as water in the pastures and 
about the different parts of the farms. 

On the whole, taking into view the nature of the 
soil, the topography of the township, the salubrity of 
the atmosphere, and the peaceable disposition of the 
inhabitants, with their admitted enterprise and thrift, 
Hudson will not suffer by a comparison with any of her 
neighboring towns. And if we add the facilities of 
communication, it will at once appear that she actually 
holds out more inducements to people to take up 
their abode within her borders, than any town in the 
region. 

Fellow Citizens, I have detained you too long with 
the dry details of your own local affairs, which may 
perhaps cramp your broad views and generous emotions. 
You must realize that you are assembled as American 
citizens, to celebrate one of the most important events 
in modern history — the emancipation of one continent, 
and the modification of the institutions of another. 
We are assembled to commemorate the birth of free- 
dom, the equality of man, and his right to self-govern- 
ment. Though these doctrines appear to us to be 
self-evident, they were a century ago unknown, or, 
perhaps more truly, unacknowledged by the nations of 
the earth. We have met not merely to enjoy the 
pleasures and the festivities of the day, but to do 
homage to the memory of our ancestors, whose mature 
wisdom, cool deliberation, and unflinching devotion to 
moral principle, enabled, nay, compelled them to stand 

9 



66 

erect before the world, defying Acts of Parliament, 
Orders in Council, and decisions of Courts of Admiralty 
— nay more, defying the sword and halter of a haughty 
nation, before whose arms the powers of Europe had 
trembled. 

Our fathers were politicians in the best sense of that 
term — they were statesmen, who had studied the 
science of civil Qrovernment, and understood the true 
relations between the rulers and the ruled. They were 
perfectly acquainted with the principles discussed in the 
English Revolution, and saw most clearly that the 
measures adopted by the ministry were totally repug- 
nant to the principles for which they had contended ; 
and our statesmen were fully convinced that the minis- 
try, and not we, were trampling upon the fundamental 
doctrines of the English Constitution, Seeing this, 
they knew the path of duty, and their course was a 
plain one. It seems that in this case, as in all others, 
men were reared up for the occasion, — men who ' knew 
their rights, and, knowing, dared maintain them.' 
And among the prominent men who declared our 
independence, Massachusetts furnished her full share. 
John Adams was on the Committee which prepared the 
Declaration, and was its principal advocate in Congress. 
John Hancock, as President of Congress, was the first 
to sign that instrument, and in fact did set that bold 
and almost defiant hand to the document, before it was 
known that it would bear any other signature. And 
there was another Massachusetts man, whose name is 
borne upon that scroll, who does not appear as the first 
signer, or as the advocate on the floor of the house, 
but who had done more than any other man in the 
country to expose the injustice of Parliament, — to 
satisfy our people of their duty, and prepare the Colo- 
nies tor self-government. You know, fellow citizens, 



6; 

that I must allude to Samuel Adams, who, by common 
consent, is allowed to be the Organizer of the American 
Revolution. 

These are the men whom the country has delighted 
to honor, and these are the men we can safely hold up 
for the imitation of our children. Hancock and Adams* 
were the men whom Gage in his proclamation exempted 
from his promised pardon, — declaring their crime " too 
flagitious to merit anything but condign punishment." 
And what were the crimes of which these distinguished 
patriots were guilty ? What had they done to expose 
them to the treatment that Gage had recommended, — 
to be sent to England to be tried for treason, — where he 
well knew they would be convicted. They had simply 
taught the people their rights as English subjects, and 
complained of the ministry and Parliament, because 
they had trampled upon their own organic law. 

But, fellow citizens, while we acknowledge the ser- 
vices of these men, we should strive to imitate their 
virtues. Like Hancock, we should be ready to sacrifice 
our fortunes on the altar of our country, if the exigency 
should demand it. But, thank Heaven, we are not 
required at this day to make such a sacrifice : yet we 
are required to refrain from those peculations, — those 
wholesale swindles, which have destroyed so many 
other men, and brought such a stigma upon the 
character of a free government. Nor are we called, 
like Adams, to devote our whole time to the cause of 
our country, without any adequate compensation ; yet 
we should imitate his disinterestedness, practice his 
simple economy, and, above all things, adhere to that 
stern rectitude which nothing could bend. As our 
institutions were planted in integrity, and high moral 
principles actuated our fathers, — the same integrity, the 

* See portraits at the end of the pamphlet. 



68 

same moral principle, is required to continue our 
country prosperous and happy. 

I am aware that it has often been said that our 
institutions must rest upon education. This is undoubt- 
edly true, if the education is what it should be. If 
moral, physical and intellectual culture are combined, it 
furnishes a sure basis for free institutions. But a mere 
intellectual education, where moral principle is dis- 
carded, is very far from furnishing a sure basis for a 
free government. Such an education is a mere motive 
power, — a centrifugal force, a facility to action ; but 
whether that action be risfht or wronof, whether it 
conduct the possessor in the path of virtue, or in the 
road to ruin, depends upon the moral principle imbibed. 
In fact, in many cases, a mere intellectual and physical 
education will make a man a more* expert villain than 
he could be without that training ; a skill in chiro- 
graphy may make a good clerk or an expert counter- 
feiter ; a knowledge of mechanism may produce a good 
mechanic or an accomplished burglar. So of other 
arts ; eloquence may be employed to " clear the guilty 
or to varnish crimes," and all the accomplishments of 
life may be made subservient to vice as well as to 
virtue. The observation we are compelled to take, 
shows that intellectual culture alone will neither save 
the individual from vice, nor our country from ruin. 
The arch traitors have generally been educated men. 

" If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, 
The wisest, brightest, meatiest of mankind." 

No, fellow citizens, the highest education, without 
moral principle, is not sufficient to guide the individual, 
or sustain the Republic. Culture is not to be discard- 
ed ; but we need something more. The projectile force 
given to the planets is necessary to keep them in 



69 

motion ; but it is the gravitating power which keeps 
them in their orbits, and compels them to pursue those 
regular and graceful circles which preserve the harmony 
of the spheres. We want knowledge — a knowledge 
of our country's rights — a knowledge of those funda- 
mental principles which give stability to institutions and 
permanency to empires. But this knowledge must be 
sanctified. It must be a knowledw drawn from a 
divine source — a full recognition that God rules the 
world in righteousness, and that human governments 
will prosper just as they copy the principles of the 
divine. We need a firm attachment to our country, 
and a love of her institutions ; but this love of country, 
this attachment for her institutions and laws must be 
based on a conviction that they are right, are such as 
heaven approves. Patriotism, when enlightened, should 
be classed among the Christian virtues, and should 
be cultivated as a source of happiness to ourselves, 
devotion to the best interests of others, and fidelity to 
Him who fixes the destinies of nations. That spirit of 
conquest which would wantonly strive to dismember a 
foreign nation, even though it would enlarge our own 
country, cannot be true patriotism ; and that attempt at 
plunder of which we have so many rumors, must be 
regarded as a gross departure from the principles which 
led to our independence. 

Nations, like individuals, have their fate in their own 
hands. Ambition and vice are destructive of the final 
success of both. The Ruler of nations has fixed a 
penalty to disobedience, and though He is long-suffer- 
ing, the day of reckoning is sure to come. If we 
appreciate our blessings, and rightly improve our privi- 
leges, we may trust that our 'nation will continue to 
prosper, and the influence of free institutions will be 
felt more and more in every quarter of the globe. But 



70 

if we yield to the allurements of vice, and disregard the 
moral character of our rulers, and suffer venality and 
corruption to reign in high places, we may expect that 
the day will come, when our republic may be classed 
with others which have come and gone, and left the sad 
reflection, that the people are not capable of self- 
government. 

FellcTdD Citizens of Hudson : While I congratulate you 
on this Anniversary, on the success of our experiment 
of self-government, and rejoice with you in the growth 
of the Republic, and the consolidation of the Union, I 
cannot withhold my exultation over your local success 
and prosperity. From a small village, consisting of a 
few dwellings, where the life-blood of the place was 
simply the gentle flow of the Assabet, and the stillness 
of the place was broken only by the croaking of the 
frogs and the clack of the mill, you have grown to be a 
prosperous tovvm of nearly four thousand inhabitants, 
filling the village with the hum of industry, and sending 
your manufactured products to every part of the 
country. 

And while your hearts are swelling with gratitude 
for your signal success, you will permit me, I am sure, 
to join in your rejoicing, and assure you of the interest 
I feel in your welfare. My knowledge of this section 
of the parent town, extends back about three-quarters 
of a century, and my attachment is co-existent with my 
knowledge ; and it would be affectation not to confess 
that the honor you have conferred upon me, in naming 
your town, has revived the interest I have always felt 
in the prosperity of the place. Here were the sports 
of my childhood, and here the riper reflections of my 
youthful days. In your village school I spent several 
winters with the children and youth of the place, most 



71 

of whom have long since passed to a higher seminary, 
and have received, we hope, purer instruction than 
earthly schools afford. Here were breathed my first 
aspirations for future success in life ; and here was 
cherished that cheering consciousness, that our fate is 
in a great degree in our hands. I look back with 
pleasure to those early days, and seem to live my life 
over again in joyful anticipation and happiness. 

" How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, 
When fond recollection presents them to view ! 

The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood. 
And every loved spot which my infancy knew. 

The wide-spreading pond and the mill that stood by it. 
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell ; 

And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well. 

That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure ; 

For often at noon, when returned from the field, 
I found it a source of an exquisite pleasure, 

The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. 
How ardentl seized it with hands that were glowing, 

And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell ; 
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing. 

And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well. 

How sweet from the green, mossy brim to receive it. 

As poised on the curb, it inclined to my lips ! 
Not a full, blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it. 

Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips." 

But many of the outward, visible things have passed 
away, or have been materially changed. The charac- 
teristics impressed by nature have generally remained. 
Old Prospect Hill, with his wood-capped summit, 
presents his rugged front, and looks steadily upon West 
Hill and Addition Hill, as if to mourn with them for 
the loss of their leafy crests, — while upon the left he 
looks upon Tophet Swamp, and seems to rejoice at its 
improved condition. Mount Assabet, the pride of the 



72 

village, with her rounded grassy summit, smiles benig- 
nantly upon the whole region, and beholds the people 
o-atherine around her base, like the Israelites around 
Mount Sinai, as if to receive instruction and guidance. 
At the same time, the gentle Assabet is flowing grace- 
fully down her valley, thankfully receiving in the mill- 
pond her tributary from Bedin, and her equally accept- 
able Indian ally, the Wataquadock, from Bolton, to fill 
the vats at the tanyard, and aid in that ancient branch 
of manufacture. In these bold outlines, fixed by nature, 
there is a permanency ; but in all else, how changed ! 
Houses cover what I have known as grass plats, streets 
traverse what were formerly corn fields, and stately 
buildings rear their bold and imposing fronts to show 
the progress of manufacturing industry and enterprise. 
In this way, the small ancient shop near the Bolton line, 
at what has been known as the Cox place, and the 
shoe shop perched on the ledge, now departed, east of 
the residence of the late Colonel Wood, have not only 
been thrown into the shade, but have been annihilated, 
and Bruce, and Dunn, and other honest workmen, who 
were willing to labor to the last, that they might mend 
the soles of their neighbors, have been compelled to 
give place to more ambitious laborers, who, overlooking 
their immediate neighbors, aspire at furnishing new 
soles and bodies to people by the thousand, in distant 
parts of the country. 

But while I can look upon these changes with 
complacency, if not with delight, there is another class 
of changes which fills me with sadness. " Our fathers, 
where are they ! " When I pass through your village, 
and see your streets teeming with people engaged in 
active business, and stop to see your Felton, and Wood, 
and Peters, and Witt, and Pope, and others whose 
faces were familiar, I realize that they are departed, and 



73 ♦ 

if their places are filled at all, they are filled by their 
children, and perhaps in a majority of cases by their 
children's children ! Such is the order of Providence. 
And it reminds you and me, and all of us, that we 
should so improve our time and opportunities, that we 
may leave as fair a character as the founders of your 
village. We shall perish, but your town will remain ; 
and as long as I am permitted to observe the growth or 
decline of human institutions, my benisons shall rest 
upon your pleasant town, trusting that your church 
spires, pointing towards heaven, may bring down upon 
yourselves and your institutions, that fostering care and 
protection, which will make you a happy and a pros- 
perous community while you are living, and that when 
you are sleeping with your fathers, your town may 
prosper and reflect the worth of its founders. 



OUR COUNTRY'S CENTENNIAL 

AND 

HUDSON'S TENTH ANNIVERSARY. 



BY MISS PHEBE A. HOLDER. 



" The Winds with wonder whisl 

Smoothly the Waters kist." — Milton. 

Thus comes for us, this year of gold, 

The Nation's day — a century old ; 

Of suffering born, in conflict proved, 

Our freedom won, the price of blood. 

Now Peace, her white-winged dove sends forth. 

With leaf of blessing o'er the earth. 

Ring out, glad bells, with silver voice, 
A chime to bid all hearts rejoice. 
The hill-tops catch the clear refrain, 
And quiet vales take up the strain ; 
The echoes wake on land and sea, 
The anthem of our jubilee. 

The warm, bright skies of Summer bend 
In beauty o'er the smiling land ; 
With queenly robes she decks the earth 
In honor of our Nation's birth, 
And the blue waves are softly kissed 
By winds in wondering silence whist. 



75 

The precious things of heaven are ours. 
Of suns, of dews, of falling showers ; 
Of lasting hills, of mountains old, 
Things of the deep, and mines of gold ; 
The buds of spring, the summer flowers. 
The harvest wealth that Autumn pours. 

And precious joys of home we share, 
Sweet homes Jike bowers of Eden fair. 
With every bright and lovely thing, 
The taste may seek, or love can bring ; 
Homes rich with gifts the Lord hath given, 
An earthly dream of home in heaven. 

Rare gifts of mind, of cultured thought. 
To minds with answering gifts are brought ; 
The poet's dream, the singer's lyre. 
The artist's soul, the statesman's fire. 
All glow 'neath Freedom's fostering ray. 
All ours, who live in this glad day. 

God of the nations, who hath blessed 
Our father's land from east to west. 
Whose bounteous hand has given all. 
In grateful love. Thy Name we call ! 
In glad thanksgiving lift the voice. 
And in the Lord, our God, rejoice. 

This day, the Century's cycle, fills ; 

The vast heart of the Nation thrills : 

And patriot fires more brightly glow. 

Kindled at Freedom's shrine anew. 

The Century's Fourth — our country's own — 

Comes like the glorious sun of noon ; 

And while its wondrous anthem swells 



76 

Majestic as cathedral bells, 
Rising where first the Atlantic wave 
Pauses, New England's shores to lave. 
Rolling afar its music grand 
To the Pacific's golden strand, 
We join the mighty symphony, 
The chorus of the century — 
Responding to the Nation's call 
As 07ie — a loyal heart in all — 
Our offering on this altar lay, 
Our tribute to this festal day. 

And while our hearts are open wide 

To this vast joy, a flowing tide, 

Within the century's wreath we twine 

One simple spray from love's home vine. 

Amid the silent moving years 

No hundred on our roll appears ; 

A decade only may we claim 

Of separate life — with honored name 

Adding its lustre to our Town, 

And proudly worn, as queens their crown 

A newly risen light to grace 

Old Massachusetts' smiling face. 

To lovi>ng eyes this vale is fair. 

As many spots more classic are. 

The silent dome of rounded hill, 

Green as in days of childhood still, 

Like sentinel, a guard to keep 

O'er peaceful homes below that sleep ; 

The Assabet, with gentle flow, 

Its waters blue as long ago ; 

Banks bright with fringing verdure still ; 



17 

The mimic fall where grinds the mill ; 

The graceful elm with limbs outspread, 

In leafy arches overhead ; 

Gardens, whose rare and lovely flowers, 

Seem like a dream of fairy bowers ; 

The sweet home lights, that brighter shine 

With beauty, caught at summer's shrine. 

Amid our homes, like watch-towers rise, 
With signals pointing to the skies, 
The sacred temples of the Lord, 
Fraught with the blessings of fiis Word ; 
With sister influence standing near. 
The goodly shrines of Learning are, 
Where Knowledge opens wide her doors, 
And Science spreads her treasured stores. 
Trade has its varied wares outspread. 
And Wealth lifts up its stately head ; 
While Progress speeds her onward way 
With winged steps — no pause — no stay ;- 
Such marvels in her train unfold 
As in the magic tales of old ; 
Aladdin-like to wondering eyes 
Palatial homes in beauty rise — 
Colossal blocks and structures tower 
Above the " modest shops " of yore. 
Filled with the hum of Industry, 
The fount of our prosperity. 

Born 'neath the waning Century's light. 
Our youth with smiles of promise bright, 
On this Centennial height we stand. 
Afar and near an outlook grand : 
May all an impulse gain to-day 



78 

Nobler to tread life's future way, 

To set our aims, our purpose high, 

Worthy our Pilgrim ancestf'y. 

Men — centuries — pass ; good deeds remain 

A halo round an honored name ; 

And shining lives with influence sweet 

Still shine, though Life's sun long hath set. 

Such lives be ours ! A light to grace 

The Town that gives us home and place ; 

True to ourselves and to aur God, 

Keep close in Virtue's upward road ! 

So shall the Future's mystic scroll. 
As silently its years unroll, 
Reveal, in fadeless lustre bright, 
Such names in pure and golden light. 
Her sons, her jewels shall be found : 
Our youthful Hudson thus be crowned. 
Proudly her rank as peer may claim 
With sister towns long known to fame, 
A polished stone in crystal set 
Within our State's fair coronet : 
New glory for the crown she wears, 
Immortal 'mid the stripes and stars. 

June 27, 1876. 




THE ORGANIZER OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 




THE FIRST SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 



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